Harry Potter and The Demonic War
by Aldrek
Summary: Harry Potter has been missing for 17 years. And last year, another war started. In a parrallel universe, demons attacked and angels came to ask wizards around the world to take part in the conflict to prevent the demons from winning and move on to Earth. A year later, the Soldiers returns and amongst them, a mysterious green-eyed young man. More inside.
1. Prologue

*****Hey guys ! I just wanted to give you a quick introduction if the summary wasn't enough to sate your curiosity. So first thing first, this is my first fanfiction. Initially I didn't plan on writing one but I thought "If there is no story like the one I got in my head, I should just write it myself." So here I am. I also wanted to point out that English isn't my first language so if you see something that is out of place about my grammar or my vocabulary, feel free to point it out for me, I could always use some tips.**

 **About the story, it will be EXTREMELY AU. And I mean it. Basically, I just picked the characters, the context and places of Harry Potter and twisted so much in my wicked mind of mine that it will be almost as if this is a entirely different story. Almost.**

 **The title may or may not change. I don't really have any idea right now.**

 **A lot of the characters will be OOC, a lot of events will be modified and the story doesn't take place in the 90's. It's in the present, so assume 2017 at the moment I write this. Also Hogwarts don't begin at 11. It's only my opinion but I always thought that it's really weird for kids who officilally never practiced magic to be expected to "master" it in seven years. Add it to the facts they are only in their third year when they choose their electives wich define your careers options, that just seems wrong to me. Plus I don't like children, I don't wanna write half of the story with them as my characters.**

 **Also you will see that this story include a lot of content about theological stuff. I don't want to offense anyone but it is a rather touchy subject. So there will be mentions of angels, God(s)** **Demons and all that. This is an work of fiction and do not reflect my stance on religious belief. I apologize if anyting in this story disturb you on this point but it's just that. A STORY. And also MY story.**

 **So I won't insult you by copy/pasting the summary, I mean, if you're here, you read it. I think. I hope.**

 **You can consider this chapter as the prologue. It will set the story a little so don't expect too much out of it. I'll try to write it in a way that will make you want to read more. That means i'll try my best to make this story not suck. Key word here being try.**

 **All that being said, I hope you'll like it. Please review if you have anything to say. Even if it's bad.**

 **I can't expect to please everyone but I hope if you don't like it for a specific reason you'll take 2 minutes to tell me.**

 **Enough said, let's get this show on the road !*****

31th of October. Most of England is celebrating. For the muggles it's just another Halloween. For the magical communities around the world it's much more. The end of a war that took too much from them. And as always the muggles won't ever know about it.

17 years ago, another war ended on this very day. The one against Lord Voldemort. Who could have seen it coming. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the darkest and most powerful wizard to ever lived, killed by a toddler ! No one exactly knew how it happened, just that Harry Potter, survived the Killing Curse and somehow, Voldemort died after that.

Speaking of the famous Boy-Who-Lived, no one knew where he was, how he looked like. He's been missing since that night. Even when he turned 11, when he was supposed to be taken to a school who would introduce him gently to magic, no was even able to reach him. And last year, when he was supposed to attend Hogwarts, he didn't came either.

But all of that is not on the mind of the citizens of the magical world. No, today the war humanity fought against the demons has come to an end.

A year ago all wizards around the world has been contacted. By an higher existence. At the moment they laid eyes on the being in front of them, it was as if a king came down to greet peasants. Wings of pure white shining brightly as if every light I the surrounding area was reflected on each and every feather. Each and everyone saw this angel in a different way. Or was it a different angel for everyone, no one knows. Yes angel. While everyone was awestruck, the angels told them about what will happen.

And what will be asked from them.

Another plane of existence was under attack from the demonic forces. People were being slaughtered, raped, tortured, and when killed, weren't allowed to be judged. Whether they were "good" or "bad", all of them, were sent straight to Hell.

So wizards were asked, individually, if they would join the war against Demons. No one was forced to come. However, if the demons won, our Universe would be next. Maybe not in a decade, or even a century. But Earth would have been next.

The angels let them one week to decide and say their goodbyes. Or farewell.

And a week later all of those who chose to help in the conflict were taken. They all had different reasons to join a war that was at the moment not theirs. Some sought glory. Some wanted to protect the future of the Earth. Some had nothing else to live for.

No one heard about them for a whole year.

But today, the angels returned. The demons had been pushed back of the other world to Hell. The cost had been heavy. Angels and humans died by thousands. Many of those who came to help didn't make it back, but all of them were enjoying Heaven, waiting for their loved ones.

However, those who made it back were changed, told the angels. You can't fight a war against demons and expect to be the same man or woman you were when you left.

So today, wizards and witches were celebrating the return of the brave warriors who risked their life to protect them from a war that hadn't begun yet.

Among the "Soldiers" as they were called, was one Albus Perceval Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

At first many were opposed to the idea of Dumbledore joining the war. But Dumbledore replied by saying that if he didn't help it would be the same as letting the war come to us. It wasn't hubris. After all, he is the greatest wizard alive.

And so, this day of October, the Soldiers returned. Worn out, some bloodied, injured. Even more missing. All of them shared the same haunted eyes of people who saw too much. But smiling nonetheless. They were home.

Around the world, parties were being thrown, parents reunited with their children, lovers finally able to feel their significant others touch, brothers and sisters crying openly in each others arms.

Yet amongst them, one Soldier stood alone in the Leaky Cauldron. Sipping at his Firewhisky, with his hood on his head. He booked a room from the innkeeper and went straight to his bed.

Finally, he was in his parent's world. After all this time, he was here.

After this night with Voldemort, he had been carried to his aunt's house. However things didn't go as planned. Voldemort had used demonic forces to create the Horcrux in Harry's scar. It was fitting really. To stay alive in this plane of existence, you had to trade your soul for it.

So an angel came to pick him up the very night he was dropped on his aunt's porch.

They disappeared in the night and never was Harry Potter seen again. Until today.

Harry was wondering about a lot of things. How would he fit in this world ? Who could he trust ?

The others Soldiers would help him. You tend to develop deep bound with people you fight alongside with.

Thinking back, Harry didn't expected to be drawn into a war. Sure he had trained in his other world but it was more out of necessity than to be a warrior.

Back in Ulcide, people were kind and caring but it was still a dangerous place. Monsters and demons roaming the lands tends to be a bit dangerous.

If only things went differently...

Anyway, no point dwelling on the past. Soon he'll enter Hogwarts. Albus told him to enter the school even if he's already a year older than most students when they come for their first year and had not followed the classic education of magical children in Britain.

After all, being in another world and part of a demonic war is what could qualify as "special circumstances" as had Albus said. He'll be able to connect to regular children, and perhaps live a normal life from now on.

Tomorrow he'll have to visit Diagon Alley with the old Headmaster to get his school stuff.

And a wand.

"I wonder if magic on Ulcide and on Earth is different, said Harry to himself. Back then no one used wands..."

Stepping out on the little balcony in his room, Harry summoned a cigarette in his hand and lit it with a small flame he conjured on his index finger.

That's a neat trick his old captain taught him when he was 13 in his travels. Always good to impress the ladies he said back then.

And it did impress a lot.

The cold air of the night made his hair stand up on his arms.

No one would recognize him. From what he learned from the others, he looked a bit like his father.

Messy as hell black hair, his face had a mix of his mother and father but he definitely had his mother's eyes.

But the similarity stopped here.

He was not scrawny. He was decently muscled but not overly so like bodybuilders.

His eyesight had been corrected back then. He had his hair cut short on the sides but let it a little bit more grown on the top of his head. He let his beard grow in a stubble for the heck of it.

All in all he was a very handsome young man.

A couple of minute later, and after a last puff on his smoke, Harry put his cigarette out.

Feeling tired, Harry got back inside, brushed his teeth and went to bed.

Before drifting out to sleep, he thought that maybe, just maybe he'll be able to finally find his place in this world. A home one day perhaps.

He'll just have to see.

 ***** So, here it is. As I said, it's basically a more fleshed out synopsis.**

 **Next chapter, the real story begins.**

 **I have a pairing already decided but I don't know if I want to include it in the summary or the tags.**

 **Tell me what you think about it.**

 **It's not exactly my best work but I didn't want to just get the story started out of the blue.**

 **It's shorter than the rest of the chapter I intend to write. I hope you aren't too dispappointed by this prologue.**

 **If you have any suggestion please make me know.**

 **I hope to see you guys next chapter. Take care !*****


	2. Chapter One : I think you broke them

Chapter 1 : "I think you broke them..."

The morning following their return, Harry woke up at 6 AM. He didn't really have to. It was just out of habit really. You can't oversleep when you're in a battlefield. For obvious reasons.

He sat up on the side of his bed and rubbed his face with his hands. For a second he didn't remember were he was. Then it all came back to him.

"Oh yeah, he said to himself, we won."

Still in his underwear he walked to the bathroom. After a quick shower and getting dressed he walked out.

He was wearing a white T-Shirt, black pants, black shoes and a black leather jacket, made from a strange material. He got the hide from a beast he killed back in Ulcide, before the war. Nasty thing. But it is a story for another time.

"Hello Tom, Harry said politely to the innkeeper, How are you this fine morning ?"

"Hello, Err Sir ? Sorry I didn't catch your name last night. 'Was kinda busy with the returns of the Soldiers you know ?"

"Don't worry. I'm Harry, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you as well. So, Breakfast ?"

"That'd be nice. Coffee please. Black"

"Coming right up."

With that he went to the kitchen as the young man sat on one of the many chairs that were available in the bar.

It was way too early for anyone to be up. Half of the wizarding population must be either asleep or still partying.

Enjoying his peace and quiet, Harry saw Tom coming his way, carrying a tray filled with delicious looking dishes.

"Here Harry, I got you some muffins with the coffee and some eggs."

"Thanks ! I was famished. I didn't have time to eat last night."

"Ho ? Why's that ? Partying with friends ?"

"Not really. Look it's not really a secret but I would appreciate if you didn't speak too much about it.

It's bound to be public knowledge soon but I was a Soldier too. I just came back last night with the others and I didn't feel like partying."

"You're a Soldier -"

"Shhhh !"

"Sorry, he continued, lower this time, but you're so young. What did your parents told you ? They must be worried sick when they didn't saw you return home last night !"

"My parents are dead, and as far as I know, I don't have a family. Actually I know very little about the wizarding world. I kinda stumbled my way trough life and here I am."

"Sorry about your parents. So what's your next steps huh ? Are you a student ?"

"Good question. I'm quite the "special case" as Dumbledore said. So i'm meeting him in an hour. He told me to use something called Floo. Don't really know what that is honestly."

"You don't know what Floo is ? Didn't you went to basic school ?"

"Like I said. "Special case"."

"Yeah, I guess. I'll explain how to use it when you're going to leave. So tell me. Any story you wanna tell me about the war ? Seeing the face of the young man in front of him turn ashen, he quickly added "If you don't want to, you don't have-"

"No it's okay. I... It was... Hard. I don't know how to describe it to someone who wasn't here. We were constantly reminded of what would happen if we lost. The desolation. The slaughters. Every time we thought we made a breaktrough we went to cheer with our friends. Our brothers in arms. But we always found one missing. I... For ten years we kept on fighting and we never saw the light. Then we won and here we are."

"What do you mean ten years ? You were gone for barely over a year ?"

"I guess. I mean that's what I got from the conversations I overheard. But honestly. We were fighting demons alongside angels. Is it really that far fetched to just accept that it took 10 years for us and we didn't age ?"

"Well if you put it this way. Ten years... I can't believe it. I mean a year must have been harsh. But ten ?"

"You have no idea..."

"You're not trying to fool me ?"

"I wish I was Tom. I wish I was..."

With that the innkeeper let Harry go back to his breakfast. He had a lot to think about and if Harry was telling the truth, so will have the rest of the world.

After breakfast Harry went back to his room to pack his things. He didn't have a lot really. Most of what he had he was wearing.

In his black duffle bag he put a picture, some underwears, his toothbrush, and a strange package wrapped in cloth.

He had his hunting knife in a leg strap and a necklace that was hidden beneath his shirt.

When it was almost time to meet Albus, Harry went downstairs. There was some patrons sitting on the chairs, but most of them were gripping their heads in pain. Chuckling to himself he walked past the hungover wizards and witches and went straight to the bar.

"Hey Tom ! I gotta go use this Floo thing. Care to show me ?"

"Sure, follow me."

Tom made his way to the fireplace and took a bucket of some sort, filled with a glittering powder.

"This is Floo powder. All you have to do is throw some in the fireplace, walk into the fire and state where you wanna go. In your case Dumbledore's Office. Keep your eyes closed and don't move until you've arrived."

"You want me, to step in a burning fireplace ?"

"Don't worry it won't burn you, I promise. Or is the Soldier scared of a little Floo Travel ?"

"Oh really ?"

Harry grabbed a handful of the powder from the bucket and threw it in the fire. The flames turned a vivid green. With a little bit of apprehension, Harry stepped in, and to his surprise it actually didn't burn him.

"Strange. A fire that won't burn."

He shrugged. After all he had seen, it seems like nothing could surprise him anymore.

"Dumbledore's Office !"

Harry closed his eyes as he had been told.

He felt like he fell down but refrained from moving. After a couple of seconds, he heard a fire roaring to life and was sent sprawling to the floor

"For fuck's sake, Harry swore loudly, Is every way of magical travel going to end up with me on the floor or what ?"

He heard a small chuckle from the left. Looking up he saw Albus trying to hide his laughter behind his hand

"Oh shut it Albus. You weren't laughing back in the Skull Forest."

"That's low Harry. It wasn't my fault if Henry forgot that I was behind him."

"Well, it's not my fault every fucking time I travel with magic I end up on the floor. Now, help me up will you ?"

With a smile Albus stretched his hand for Harry to take it. Helping him on his feet, he said :

"Well you don't have a problem with flying."

"Not the same. It's part of me you know that. Just like your hands you use to jer-"

"Hum, Hum. Harry, I think you need to be introduced to my Deputy Headmistress. Minerva, meet Harry Potter, Harry meet Minerva McGonnagall"

Harry looked where Albus was waving his hand.

A stern looking woman looked at him with surprise.

"Hello ma'am. Sorry about that. I didn't know the Albus invited someone to this meeting."

"It is alright Mr Potter. However I would like you to refrain using such a foul language in front of other students."

"I guess. It's kind of an habit. Too many time with sailors. But I'll try."

"Sailors ? Is that where you were all this time ? On the sea ?"

"Yes and no. I was working on a ship, yes. But just for a year or two. Then I left and the war came and I was kinda dragged into it."

"What do you mean "dragged into it". You could have said no to the angel who came looking for you. You don't even have your basic education, how could you think-"

"Minerva, cut in Albus, I think there is a lot you need to know about young Harry before you judge him on his actions."

"Yes, it is a quite long story so, we should get some drinks."

"Would you like some tea, Minerva ?"

"If you'd be so kind Albus. I have to remind you to tell me about your part of the story too. You were absent for a year, and there is a lot of paperwork for waiting for you."

Albus and Harry shared a look of resignation. It will be a long morning.

Albus took out his wand and conjured a tray with a tea set and two cup. He then asked an house elf to bring him some tea. Harry's eyes grew wide when he saw the small creature appear with a loud crack. He went to reach for his knife but a look from Albus told him that it wasn't necessary.

"You don't drink Mr Potter ?"

"Oh I'll drink alright. But trust me, if I gotta tell you about my life, I'll need something way stronger than tea."

He looked at Albus and the old man replyed instantly.

"Third shelf behind the desk. The one with the glass."

"Thanks."

Minerva watched incredulously the young man take a bottle of one of the most precious alcohol Albus had. One of the strongest too.

Harry came back with the bottle in his hand and opened it.

"Before you ask, I am 17. So i'm an adult in your world if I got that right."

"Yes, that is correct, but that is a very precious bottle, i'm not sure-"

"Don't worry Minerva."

"But it is barely 10 in the morning. You can't appreciate such a fine drink this early !"

"I don't wanna be rude, but compared to what the angels used to drink, I think your alcohol is severely lacking in term of both delicacy and strength. I mean I took a glass of the most expensive thing in my inn yesterday. A Firewhisky Special 1981 or something. It was mediocre."

Seeing the look of shock on Minerva's face, Albus chuckled once again. Oh yes. Harry Potter was back and he is going to make some waves.

"Anyhow. I think we should get on with it. Albus how much do you trust your Deputy ?"

"With my life Harry."

"Very well, he replied with a sigh. So how much do you know about my dispearance 17 years ago ?"

After two hours of storytelling, Minnerva was shell shocked. This was all too much.

After barely 15 minutes she stopped drinking tea and joined Harry with the bottle of alcohol.

An hour later they were done and had to open another one.

"I... So ten years. And all of that is true ? You're not joking ?"

"I feel like i'm going to say that a lot from now on, but I swear it is all true."

"I can confirm Minerva, added Albus. He is telling the truth."

"So you were taken to Ulcide, learned magic from this man and traveled alone all this time ?"

"Yes, yes and mostly yes, answered Harry."

"And during the war, you took an alias, Demonsbane ?"

"It wasn't really me who called me that, but when people started refering to me as Demonsbane, I kinda went with the flow. No point arguing. It brought hope. In a way."

"But... You're...This is all too much. I need some time. Would you excuse me. If you need me Albus i'll be in my office."

"Of course. We'll be back this evening and Harry will get Sorted right away."

"Very well. I'll see you later Mr Potter."

"I must ask you to never tell anyone about this without my approval, said Harry. This is sensible information."

"Of course. Have a nice day. I guess."

After Minerva closed the door, Dumbledore and Harry started chuckling. Then it broke out in a full blown laughter.

"I... I think you broke her, said Albus between fits of roaring laughter."

"You think ?"

"Yes, and you didn't even told her how you ended the war and how much of a big deal you were back then !"

At that Harry stopped laughing. His eyes grew distant and sad. Albus knew instantly he had messed up. It was so easy to let yourself go with someone you shared such a deep bound. So many times did they saved each others lives. Well most of them it was Harry who saved Albus, but it happened that the old man saved the young man's neck sometimes.

"Sorry Harry. I know it must hurt you, but you got to come to terms with it. You're a legend for ending the war. No one else could have killed the archdemon."

"And it cost me dearly, said Harry, grasping his necklace. Please Albus. Not today. I'm not ready to talk about it."

"Very well. But if you want to talk about it one day, my door is always open for you my friend."

"Thanks. I appreciate that."

"We should get going to the Alley. There is a lot to do and so little time. I need to grab something from Gringotts as well if all went according to my plan before I left."

"Gringotts ? Isn't that the bank I heard about ?"

"Yes it is. You need to visit your familly account manager as well. The Potter is an ancient Family after all."

"I hope I won't have too many thing to take care of ?"

"No, basically it's just an honorary title. Your familly don't have a seat in the Wizenmagot, so it's mainly a formality."

"Oh. That's a relief. It would have been awkward. "Hello i'm Harry Potter and I know i've been missing for almost 20 years but i'm a member of the government now." That would have gone well."

"Indeed. Now let's get going. I don't think there will be too much crowd but better safe than sorry right ?"

"Right. You should get changed Albus, you're not really discreet with all those flashy colors."

The old Headmaster sighed and reluctantly went to get changed in plain grey robes.

"Put your hand on my shoulder and we'll get going."

"Great, I'll let you pick me up when I end up on the floor."

With a Plop, there were gone.

Harry felt like he was squeezed through a tube and for a second he couldn't breath then he was once again on the floor.

"I give up..."

The street was exactly like he had been told. Shops all around them and filled to the brim with strange products. Some passerby eyed them oddly but they were very few people right now.

"Get up we don't have all day."

"Yeah, whatever."

As they make their way to the bank, Harry realize that Dumbledore seems lost in thoughts.

His usually twinkling eyes seems lackluster.

"Something on your mind, old man ?"

Albus turn to Harry while he keep on walking towards the white building. He swished his wand and Harry suddenly felt a dome of magic around him. All sound around them was muffled. Privacy charm. Handy.

"Yes. You remember when I told you the plan I used to have for you when your parents died ?"

Harry scowled. Of course how could he not ? At the time he was really angry at Albus for trying to manipulate him. But by the time their first battle was over, Albus had realised that his plan was not to be. Harry was already a man. And a powerful one at that.

"Yes, I remember. You told me you were worried sick when you realised I was missing from my relatives house. Why would you bring that up now ?"

"Well, I had planned for you to be escorted by Hagrid, the Groundkeeper to shop in the Alley. However at the time I didn't know about your location or anything about you really. So my plan was for you to accompany Hagrid pick up a very precious item in a vault. When I couldn't reach you, I moved this item in another vault just to be sure."

"I think i'm not going to like what's coming next."

"No you aren't. As you know Voldemort made Horcuxes in order to stay alive. Which means that as long as he got one, he can't really die. When his spell got reflected by your mother's blood ward his body was destroyed but his soul is still in this world, waiting to be revived."

"Yes all of that I know. How is that related to the item-...Oh, fuck."

Suddenly he could see the relation. Harry didn't knew what the item was exactly, but he knew this wasn't good.

"Is this item, capable of bringing him back to life somehow ?"

"In a way, replied Albus. It is a very important piece of my plan. If Voldemort is alive, he'll have one of his minion trying to recover the Philosopher's Stone. My plan was to use the Stone to draw him out."

"That is a really risky plan, said Harry. I mean there is so much that could go wrong. But if it worked you may be able to act against Voldemort by both preventing him to come back to life and reveal his spy, he smiled deviously. I like risky plans."

"Well, now that I know you're perfectly capable of defeding yourself-" Harry snorted. "-I will be able to put you in a more active role than the one I intended to give you. Initially I wanted you to witness first hand that Voldemort isn't dead, without telling you that he used Horcruxes, but now this seems unnecessary."

"That's an understatement. You were right, you were an old manipulative fool before the war."

"Yes, I was. For so long I was the all-mighty Albus Too-Many-Names Dumbledore. I thought that I knew better than anyone. The War reminded me how much I was wrong."

"At least one good thing came out of it then... You got any suspects right now ?"

Albus nodded

"Yes I do. A lot actually. But for now I have no solid evidence. Everyone I suspect has strong Occlumency shields and I can't just mind rape them. It would blow my cover. I wish I could do it another way, but for now, Voldemort don't know that I know about his Horcruxes. And I want to keep it that way."

They were standing in front of the giant white building. On top of the stairs, I huge metal door with threatening inscriptions. Basically it said " Try to rob us, we kill you. Painfully." But in a much more poetic way.

"Charming. At least it's good to know they don't take safety measures lightly, said Harry."

"Indeed, Mr Potter. Welcome to Gringotts Mr Potter, Mr Dumbledore. I'm Griphook. You are almost late to your appointment."

Harry turned to look at the person who just called him. He looked down to see a goblin. Like he heard they were small, had long fingers, and not really good looking. But it wasn't that bad. He sure as hell met some uglier things in his travels and some were really nice.

"Good morning Mr Griphook. As you said, almost late. But if you prefer, next time I'll make sure to arrive earlier."

The goblin raised an eyebrow. An adult that spoke to him respectfully was rare. Children usually did, but it was more because they were intimidated rather than respect.

This young man was definitely not a child anymore. He behaved himself like a experienced warrior. The moment he entered the building his eyes immediately looked for exits, covers, potential threats... It was barely noticeable, but for a race of warrior like the goblins, it was enough to be seen.

He will have to keep an eye on this wizard. He seemed interesting.

"If you would follow me, Griphook said."

So both of them did. They walked pass a row of clerc, busy with paperwork and followed the goblin in an corridor. Moments later they were invited inside by the goblin.

The office was really simple. Some chairs, a desk and that was it. Except for the weapon rack filled with diverse weapons. Swords, axes, spears, warhammer.

"That is a nice display, Mr Griphook, commented Harry. Those weapon are exceptionally made."

Before the goblin could retort that, of course they were, those were goblin-made weapons, the old Headmaster beat him to it.

"Indeed Harry. Goblins are well renowned for their incredible craftmanshift."

"Oh I see. Well that explains it."

Another piece of information that the goblin now had. The young man was not familiar with the magical world. It's rather strange as most children were taught basic knowledge during their youth.

Apparantly, this man had not followed the classic curriculum.

"Please sit, the goblin said curtly."

The chairs were not really confortable. They weren't made to be. Time is money, and if the client want to get up quicker because of the chair, it meant less unneccessary conversation.

"There is a lot I need to ask you, Mr Potter. First of all, why were our owls unable to reach you and where have you been all these years. We managed your family account the best way possible but it would have been better if you were present."

Harry fidgeted in his chair.

"Is it safe to assume that this conversation will remain private to an extent ? I don't plan on keeping this a secret but that doesn't mean I want everyone to know about my past."

"I will have to report the reason of you absence to my superior but other than that it will be private."

Harry took a deep breath.

"Well, after Voldemort attacked my family, I was taken by an angel to the other world. The one Soldiers went. I was too young to remember but the said angel told me after I grew old enough. It was quite a shock really. I don't want to enter into details but after the War I came back here. I had nothing left in Ulcide. So there you have the reason of my absence. I apologize if it caused you and your colleagues any inconveniences."

The goblin seemed rather taken aback by this revelation. Who wouldn't. Not everyone travel through different universes.

"It would explain quite a lot really. When we wanted to owl you, our birds would not even leave the building's owlery. They just flew over, confused and come back were they took off. I will believe you. But if it is not the truth, you should tell me right now."

"I'm afraid this is true. But now I'm here now. So let's get everything sorted."

Grriphook smiled. Well as close as a goblin can smile. Oh, yes. Potter is an interesting man.

"Spoken like a true goblin. So for starter, you'll need to assume the title of Head of House Potter. It will allow you to manage all of the assets of your family. Then we will review all of your family vaults and estates. Don't worry it will not be too long."

"Good. So, where do we begin ?"

"Apparantly, the goblins and I don't share the same definition of "not too long", said Harry while rubbing his wrist.

"Well, it wasn't that long really. It barely took an hour, replied Dumbledore as they got out of the bank. Considering that you had to be informed of everything you should know about your family business, it was actually pretty short."

"Anyway, grumbled Harry. So I got this ring. What does it do exactly ?"

"As I said, it's mostly just for show. It doesn't do anything special on it's own. But I guess if you would like to enchant it, it would be possible at a later date. On another note, you should think about where you will live once the school year ends. You parents were wealthy enough, and if you add some of the stuff you collected in troughout your life, you should be able to afford a really nice place. Or you could always live in Potter Manor but it would need some work to be livable."

"Wow, easy. Damn it, old man. I haven't been in this world for 24 hours, I think I should hold on before I start buying houses left and right."

"Very well. But you should think about it. And I'm not letting you stay at the castle during the summer hollidays."

"Fine, I'll take care of it during the year. But about the stuff I had back in the days..."

"You left them there, didn't you ?"

"Yeah, said Harry sheepishly, but it would have been weird to just show up with all those things know one ever seen. Except the Soldiers, but that would have been a dead give-away."

"I see your point. But I still think it's a big loss. Those were very precious artifacts. They could have been useful one day."

"Don't worry I left them in a safe place. And if I really need them I could alwas go back and pick them up."

"Yes, a casual cross-dimensionnal travel to pick an item you forgot."

"As I said, don't worry I got my ways... So where to now ?"

"You go to Madam Malkins and tell her you need new robes. If she asks, think of something on the spot, I know you're good at lying. I got to retrieve the stone now that you're here. The others already prepared the defenses."

"Damn right I'm a good liar. It helps a lot when playing poker. You guys still owe me 20 bucks by the way."

Dumbledore left Harry, grumbling about "cheating little bastards". Shaking his head, Harry made his way to the shop.

Pushing the door, he heard a small bell ringing. The shop was filled with clothing."As expected to a cloth shop I guess, Harry muttered to himself."

"Good morning, young man, can I help you ?"

He saw the old woman smiling at him, behind the counter.

"Yes ma'am. I need some robe for Hogwarts. And a set of casual clothes too."

"Hogwarts robes at this period of the year ? Aren't you a little early for next year ?"

He sighed.

"No actually, my robes burned in an unfortunate accident at school. You know magic, always so volatile."

This time it was Madam Malkins who sighed.

"Yes, I know. Please come with me I'll take your measurments."

30 minutes later, Harry exited the shop with two bags of clothes. Albus was already waiting for him.

"I think we should head to Ollivander's now., said the old Headmaster, People will ask question if you don't have a wand on you."

"And we don't want that. Lead the way. Oh and could you do something about the bags ?"

Albus took out his wand and Harry's bags were now the size of a matchbox.

"That's neat, said Harry while he put the bags in his pocket. I wish I could do that."

"You will soon enough. And you already know a lot about magic."

"Yes but most of what I know isn't really your day-to-day stuff. Being able to blast ennemies to dust and slice them in little bits is not really useful if you want to maintain your garden."

"Well you can always burn the garden to the ground. Don't worry, i've seen what you're capable off. You'll catch up to the second years in no time."

"You mean, I don't have to pass first year ?"

"Honestly Harry. You ended a War. That's enough to pass the first year out of seven. Plus, I'll teach you personally if the need arises."

"That's nice of you, said Harry. What do you want for that, he asked immediately after."

"A crate of Angel's Drop. Like you said, I don't think I'll be able to enjoy this world's drinks now."

"Fine. That's fair. I'll probably get one too anyway."

Dumbledore pushed the door of an old looking shop.

Over the door stood a sign that reads " Ollivander's, Maker of Fine Wands since 382 B.C."

The inside of the shop was a real mess, but a familiar kind of mess. Rows of small boxes were piled up from the floor to the ceiling and Harry suspected that the only reason the whole thing didn't fell down was magic. There was a small layer of dust everywhere.

"Just like Garrett's old workshop. Always messy, Harry thought to himself. He didn't took time to clean up, he always had a project. A new recipe here, another alchemical ingredient that needed researching there..."

Harry was interrupted in his thoughts by a old man who came walking behind a pile of boxes.

"Ah Dumbledore, nice to see you. I see you brought me quite the customer today. I must admit Mr Potter, that when I didn't see you 6 years ago, I feared the worst."

"Oh no, as you can see I'm alive and well. Mostly anyway."

"That's not what I meant when I said the worst. No I feared you went to another wandmaker to get you wand. I can't imagine you wielding a poorly crafted wand."

Harry chuckled lightly. Yes, he would have definitly got along with Garrett.

"Well I'm here now. So how do we proceed ?"

"Each wand in this shop is handcrafted by my care, and I remember each one I sold. You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work. Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."

"You remind me of a friend of mine. You got the same light in the eye when you speak about wand than him when he were speaking about alchemy."

"I can only speak for myself, but if you are passionate about something, or someone, you can't help it. It is something truly marvelous to talk about the thing that make your heart beat."

While he took Harry's measurements, he kept talking about the fact that each wizard is different and that the wand who choose him or her will relfect his or her personality.

In the end Harry spent an hour in the wandmaker's shop. He tried countless wands. But none were perfect for him. There was a slightly better connection between Harry and a certain Holly and Pheonix feather core, but according to the wandmaker, it wasn't the perfect match.

In the end Harry had to take the wand.

"I must say Mr Potter, in all my career, this never happenned. If you have any idea of what core to use, I'll gladly take any suggestion. This one will have to do in the meantime."

"What kind of item can be used for a core exactly ?"

"Usually, it's a highly magical item. Considering the fact that no core in my shop was in tune with your magic, it must be an extremely rare component. Do you have any idea ?"

"I think I do, said Harry softly, but to be honest I don't know if i'm ready to do anything with it. I will keep you up to date Sir."

"Well, my apologies again. I pride myself in my work and I will not be satisfied if you pay for this wand. You will have to pay me when you come back with your perfect core."

"Very well. Thank you Sir. I'll do what I can."

"Good day to you, gentlemen."

And he went back in the back of the shop, thinking out loud about what kind of core could be used.

"You keep amazing me. I think you will break every person I know during your time here. First Minerva, now Garrick..."

"What can I say, I obviously can't do thing normally."

"What do you think is your core, asked Albus."

Deep down, he knew the answer, but he hoped that it wouldn't come to that. It was one one the only thing he kept from his past. And it brought both confort and grief.

But Harry's answer confirmed his suspicion. With a slight tremor in his voice and a pained face he said only one word before he started walking

"Dawn."

While he was walking, Harry conjured a cigarette in his hand. Many people kept tellig him how bad it was for him, or asked him why he didn't stop smoking.

Most people try to make some excuses for smoking. Sure there was some who had some reasons to just keep killing themselves slowly, but he didn't try.

When he was asked, he always said the same thing.

"Because i'm an idiot. Also I litteraly can't have cancer."

Long story short, he heals faster than the stupid thing can hurt him. It's pretty handy after battle too. "See that nasty cut that almost killed me ? Well tomorrow it will barely be here anymore. And without potion !"

It doesn't make it better. Smoking is bad for your health, period. It doesn't matter if you have superhuman healing. But as he said, being a legend on the battlefield don't make you perfect.

He was about to lit his finger on fire when he thought better. He's in a public place, he shouldn't use his special magic like that.

So he looked around and started walking toward a man who had his back turned to him.

"Excuse me Sir, do you have a lighter by any chance ?"

The man turned to him.

"Well, i'll be damned."

For a second, Harry almost dropped his cigarette.

"Duncan, you motherfucker !"

He gripped his fellow Soldier forearm, then proceeded to hug him with one arm.

"Harry, I didn't know you came back with us !"

Duncan Greengrass was a tall man, by any standard. He had long black hair, tied in a ponytail, and light blue eyes, that seemed almost grey. He usually didn't showed any emotions, but he was a very kind man who went to War to make sure his family wouldn't have to die because of his cowardice.

"Fuck yeah I did ! Last time I saw you you were being carried away from the battlefield on a stretcher !"

Duncan rubbed the back of his haid, and smiled sheepishly.

"Well, the medic wouldn't let me go back again until I was fully healed and by the time I was able to stand up, the War was over. Congratulation by the way. You did great "D" !"

"Don't call me that idiot, said Harry while he punched his friend's shoulder. You know I don't like this nickname."

"Well, I think it's fitting. After all-"

Duncan was interrupted by a sound that spelled trouble. His wife, clearing her throat. His face got pale all of a sudden.

"Honey, who is this friend of yours ?"

His wife stood behind him, hands on her hips. Annabelle Greengrass was a very good looking witch. She had long blond hair that went behind her back, brown eyes and a very soft looking face.

However, the scowl on the said face was all Duncan needed to know that he was required to make the introduction. Or Else...

"Darling, he said with fake cheerfulness, I thought you were still inside with Tori. Anyway, let me take care of the introduction, Harry meet my wife Annabelle Greengrass, Sweetheart meet Harry Potter."

Albus had caught up with Harry by the time Duncan were introducing Harry to his wife.

"Well ain't this a surprise. You go to war and you come back friend with a missing national hero, she said shaking her head. Nice to meet you, Harry. Can I call you Harry ?"

"Of course ma'am. Duncan told me a lot about you and your family. It's nice to finally meet you."

Behind them, Duncan and Albus were greeting each other warmly.

"Anna, said Duncan, you remember Albus from the Yule ball of 2009 right ?"

"Of course, but I must remind you that even if we're not student anymore he still is our old Headmaster. Nice to see you again, Professor."

"Likewise Annabelle. Tell me, Duncan said you are finally working at St Mungo's. How is it ?"

"Oh, it's wonderful, smiled Annabelle, I mean, I don't enjoy seeing people in such bad shapes, but to finally be able to help them was worth all this time studying."

A girl got out of the shop. She ran straight to Annabelle.

"Mom ! Mom ! Did you see the new Nimbus 2000 ! He's so cool ! He's got those awesome..."

Her eyes jumped from Albus to her dad then to her mom and Harry.

"Mom, she whispered to Annabelle, it's Dumbledore !"

"I know sweetie. Your dad apparantly met a lot of people during the War. Come on Astoria, introduce you to the young man."

She seemed to break out of her stupor.

"Sorry, i'm Astoria Greengrass, she said with a little smile. Nice to meet you."

Astoria had her father's black hair and her mother's brown eyes. She had the same thin nose than Annabelle but her jaw and her cheekbones were definitively Duncan's

"Hello Astoria, your dad is a friend of mine. He spoke a lot about you. My name is Harry."

Before any of them could speak further, Duncan clapped his hands and declared loudly.

"How about we all go to our house for lunch ? I would love to repay you two for all your help and catch up with you guys."

"Yeah, said Harry while smirking, you'll need a lot more than a lunch to repay us."

"Have I ever told you how much of an ass you are, asked Duncan."

"Language, Duncan, interrupted Annabelle"

"Almost every day for ten years, answered Harry."

"We will have to grab a few more things for Harry then we'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron, stated Albus, Let's say, in half an hour ?"

"Fine by me. You're okay with it, Darling ?"

"Of course, maybe they will tell me a little bit more than you did."

"Yeah, err... Right. Hurry guys, don't leave me alone too long. I tell you, she's more fierce than what we fought against when she's mad."

"I heard that !"

Duncan shivered.


	3. Chapter Two : Old Friends and New Ones

**AN : Hello everyone ! Happy new year and all that. I'm sorry i didn't post anything for those of you who were actually interested. I'll try to publish another chapter next week. No promises tough.**

 **CHAPTER 2 : Old Friends and New Ones ?**

"You know what name you want to give her, asked Dumbledore as they exited the Owl Emporium."

On Harry's right shoulder stood a beautiful snow white owl. The moment he laid his eyes on her, he knew. He knew he would buy her, even if it was just to set her free the minute they got out of the shop. But apparantly, the magnificient creature liked him too. She straight out refused to go back in her cage so the young man let her enjoy her new found freedom.

"Not really. I feel like she need a name that will fit her perfectly, but I can't think of one. Maybe it'll come with time."

"I think I know what you're feeling. When I met Fawkes, my phoenix, I could not think of one either. Then I saw him die for the first time and it just felt right. You know, gone with a bang."

"That's both incredibly lame and awesome. How do you manage to do that is still beyond my comprehension."

"Duncan is right. You are an ass."

Harry fake-gasped.

"Albus Dumbledore just called me an ass ! How could you insult one of your student ?"

The old Headmaster threw his hands up in the air, and headed straight to the Leaky Cauldron.

Duncan and his family were waiting for them. Annabelle and Duncan were sipping tea and Astoria was playing with her empty Butterbeer bottle.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, said Albus. We are all set now."

"Actually I just have to pay for my room and I'll be right back"

Harry extended his arm toward Albus.

"You still owe me 20 Galleons."

Dumbledore sighed and took out a golden coin from one of his pocket.

Harry smirked and ran toward the innkeeper to pay his room.

"Did he just extort Albus Dumbledore, asked Astoria incredulously."

"You have now idea what he made us do. This man is a demon, said Duncan with a shiver."

"Please don't talk about it, replyied Albus while he shook his head. I can still feel the bugs crawling in my bed..."

"Who the fuck is that guy, thought Astoria out loud."

"Language Tori, scolded her mother."

"I ask myself this exact question everytime I see him, said Duncan. Each time I think I have him figured out he just do something completely unexpected..."

Harry came back with a smile on his face.

"I'm ready. Lead the way guys !"

They apparated to the Greengrass Estate. And as usual, Harry ended up on his butt, to the amusement of everyone.

"Yeah, laugh all you want. I don't care anymore..."

He dusted himself off after he got back on his feet.

Before him stood a wonderful villa.

The villa was two stories tall and had a classy vibe to it. There was a lot of windows all around the building. There was no sign of other habitation in the area. In fact, the house was in the middle of a clearing, inside a forest.

Harry whistled.

"Damn, Duncan. That's a real nice place you got here !"

"Thanks mate. But the credit goes to my dear wife. She did all the decorating while she was pregnant of our first daughter, Daphne."

"Thank God I did, added Annabelle. Duncan has absolutely no sense of fashion whatsoever."

"I'll drink to that. He wanted to bring a giant spider corpse in camp !"

"Hey, it was my first kill ! The damn thing was 2 meters long !"

They kept chatting mindlessly as they walked toward the entrance of the villa.

Inside, an house elf came to take their coats. Annabelle and Astoria let out a loud gasp at the sight of Harry's heavily scarred arms. He just shrugged in response.

They gathered in the dining room. There was a long table with a dozens confortable looking chairs. The walls were filled with huge windows that let the sun shine trough the glass.

"It really is a beautiful house, complimented Harry. I'm quite jealous honestly."

"Thank you Harry. But it was really empty without Duncan. Daphne was at Hogwarts and Astoria was in school most of the time. I'm glad he is back. Thank both of you for keeping an eye on him."

"Don't worry my dear, said Albus in his grandfatherly voice. He took care of us sometimes too. We love to make fun of each others but in fact, none of us would be here without the other two."

Harry nodded.

"I agree with Albus. Without our friends we wouldn't have made it."

"Let's eat while we talk, shall we, declared Annabelle. Anny !"

Another house elf appeared with a loud crack.

"What can I do for you Annabelle, asked the house elf with a warm smile."

"Our guest and us wanted to have lunch. Could you bring us the food ?"

The house elf snapped her finger and the table was suddenly filled with food.

"Here you go. We will need to make some grocery shopping soon. There is not many ingredients left in the kitchen."

"Thank you, my friend. You are free to buy whatever you want, I trust you on this matter."

"Actually, added Duncan, could you buy the ingredient for the cake I mentioned yesterday ? I really want to bake something since I'm finally back."

"Sure, I'll do it this afternoon. Enjoy your meal everyone."

Then she disapeared with another crack.

"This looks really tasty, stated Harry. What interesting little beings."

"Indeed they are, answered Annabelle. Anny and Sally are part of the family. They were really worried when you left honey."

"I will have to make it up to them then. I'll bake more cake so they can share it with their friends."

"Could you tell me more about them ? Are they really elves ?"

"Honestly we don't know that much about House Elves, explained Duncan They have always been part of our world since as long as I remember. Unfortunately, some wizards treat them like they are object. Like the Malfoys for exemple. We went in their manor once, for a social gathering. That poor Dobby."

"It seems like they are forced to obey their master's orders, added Annabelle. But it doesn't mean we are meant to treat them like trash."

"You mean that they are some sorts of slaves ?"

"I honestly don't know. Personnally we let them have vacations and free time. If they want something we give it to them at their birthday or at christmas, but it never occurred to me that they were basically forced to obey us."

Harry nodded. He seemed lost in thoughts.

"I'll have to research on that but I might have found out something."

"Can we eat ? I'm starving, whined Astoria."

"Tori, you're almost 16, it's time for you to grow up."

"No she is right, we should dig in. I'm sorry I was just daydreaming."

So they ate while maintaining good conversation. It wasn't about the War or anything related. More like a group of friends who met for lunch. It was so refreshing for Harry.

"Tell me Harry, asked Annabelle with a mischievious smile. Do you have someone in your life ?

A fiancé or a girlfriend. Or boyfriend maybe ?"

Astoria perked up when she heard the question. She loved to hear about others relationships.

However, the older men winced. That was not a good subject.

"Honey, Duncan began, let's-"

"No, I don't, said Harry. He looked like all happiness left him. Not anymore. It's part of the reasons I came back here."

Feeling the conversation was quickly changing into a very painful one, Albus spoke. But it was definitely not english. Actually except for Harry and Duncan, no one else understood what he said.

" _She didn't meant to hurt you_ , he said in ulcidian. _I'm sure she would have not spoked about it if she knew..."_

Duncan nodded

" _It's fine really,_ Harry deadpanned. _While we're speaking in a language they can't understand,_ he added with his face now back to it's normal cheerful self, _how was your first night back home Duncan ? You must have been quite "happy" to see your wife after ten years."_

" _You have no idea mate. We had to use privacy charms in order to not wake the whole house."_

"Gentlemen, it is quite impolite to speak in a language we cannot understand, said Annabelle."

"I apologize Annabelle, replied Albus. But it was a rather touchy subject."

"Then why did it looked like you were talking about something inapropriate dear husband ?"

"Absolutely not darling, said Duncan, looking rather distressed."

Harry snickered.

"Oh don't laugh, I may have not entirely understood, but I know it was you who asked the question, Mr Potter !"

Astoria dropped her fork. Everyone looked at her. She was gaping and her eyes were looking straight at Harry.

"Potter, she asked incredulously, as in Harry Potter ? But... You're the Boy-Who-Lived !

Oh my god, how could I not realize that !"

"Yeah, Harry replied while rubbing his neck, it kinda slipped out of my mind when we were introduced. Sorry about that."

"You're a Soldier too ? But you're the same age as Daphne ! You never went to Hogwarts ! And you were missing-"

"Astoria, stop pestering him, scolded Annabelle. He's enjoying his meal, not in an interrogation room."

"No it's okay, replied Harry lifting a hand. You can ask your dad about all the details later, but I wasn't in England during my childhood. In fact I wasn't even on Earth at all. I got taken by an angel to Ulcide and I grew up there. So when the wizards came to the rescue, I was already fighting. That's how we met your father and I."

"So not only have I been eating with Albus Dumbledore, but also with Harry Potter."

"Don't forget your dad. He's a war hero too."

"He may be a war hero, but it's mum who calls the shots here, Astoria said with a smile"

"Of course not. Your father has a word in this house too, replied Annabelle."

Duncan looked at his brother in arms and mouthed " I don't. Save me.".

They laughed.

They left the villa after lunch with the promise to come back again. Astoria excused herself to her room shortly after saying goodbye.

"That was unexpected, said Harry as they sat down in Albus' office. I hoped to see him soon but it was nice to finally meet his family."

"Well you still have to meet Daphne, she's in your year. Now that we are here, we will use the remaining time to study a little. Depending on your house, you will have a different schedule. But let's cross that bridge when we get there. Take out your charms book and let's review some spells. I hope you did not forget everything I taught you back there."

"Fine. It will be weird to call you Professor in public."

"You chose to come and study here. Now you got to follow the rules. In public."

"One more thing, what exactly is this Sorting you told me about ?"

"Don't worry it's harmless. You will just have to put the Sorting Hat on your head and it will do the rest for you."

"Oh that's weird. But whatever, your school, your rules."

"Oh and you will be sorted in front of everyone as per usual."

Harry gulped.

"Ev... Everyone ? As in in front of every teacher ?"

"More as in in front of the whole school."

"You did it on purpose didn't you ?"

"Indeed I did. That's for talking about my hands and what I do with them in front of my Deputy."

"I fucking hate you Professor."

Everyone was seating in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. The second they entered they saw Dumbledore waiting for them. He was smiling broadly and his eyes were twinkling brighter than ever.

The Headmaster stood up and every conversations stopped.

"Good evening to you all. It is so heartwarming to see you all again. The sight of this hall filled with students smiling is without a doubt my most precious memory. During my time with the other Soldiers, it was one of the few things that kept me moving."

He used one finger to wipe a single genuine tear that was rolling down his cheek.

"So as you know, the Soldiers are back. And as I said, there was few things to keep me alive during this hell. One of those things is actually a man. We fought side by side together and he saved my life and countless others more time than I can count. However during that time, this young man was unable to enjoy his childhood and was forced into battle with all of us. He never got to be a student and was never taught our way of magic."

The hall broke out into whispers. Dumbledore let a few moments pass before he continued his speech.

"Tonight I would like to introduce you to my fellow Soldier and friend. He will be joining the second year starting from tomorrow. Everyone, meet Harry Potter."

Time seemed to stop for a second. Did he just said Harry Potter ? As in the Boy-Who-Lived ?

A single figure entered the Great Hall. He was wearing simple black robes over clothes no one could see. He was well built, had messy raven hair, emerald green eyes and a very handsome face.

He walked toward the staff table while waving awkardly.

Albus walked up to him to shake his hands.

Some student could see his lips moving but none could hear what he said to the old Headmaster but it made the esteemed professor laugh.

"Professor McGonagall, the Sorting Hat if you please."

The stern woman brought the famous old hat on his stool. She looked oddly at the young man in front of her. She gestured toward the stool.

Harry sat down and felt a little scared when he saw everyone looking at him.

Their was too many different emotion on their faces to get a general feeling. Interest, shock, doubt to name a few.

Then his vision was blocked by the Hat.

"Oh. That was not what I expected Mr Potter, said the Hat in his head."

"Can you hear me, asked Harry in his mind. I'm sorry I don't really know what i'm supposed to do. Do I have to think about something or..."

"No don't worry, I will see your memories and decide wich House is the most suited for you."

"You're not going to talk about what you will see aren't you ?"

"No I will not. In fact I can't. If I could do so, many problems could have been prevented."

"That's a relief. But I must warn you. Some things are not pretty."

"Let's see then."

For about ten second the Hat stood still. Then he/it moved.

"Mr Hat, asked Professor McGonagall. Are you okay ?"

"In all my life, I have never been that sorry to intrude in one's mind. I am so terribly sorry Mr Potter."

What did the Hat saw, thought everyone.

"It's not your fault,said Harry in a whisper. You job is to sort people. Sort away then."

"You have all the qualities of the founders. You are capable of being cunning. You are deeply loyal to your friends and loved ones. You are not interested in knowledge for the sake of knowledge tough. But after everything I saw, your bravery is without a doubt your most pronounced trait."

"Better be Gryffindor !"

Harry's robe now displayed the emblem of Gryffindor on his chest and his tie was now red and gold.

The Gryffindor table erupted in cheers. They chanted "We got Potter !". The other Houses clapped respectfully.

"Now that our late student is sorted, let's enjoy our school's food."

As soon that Harry sat down, he was assaulted with people who wanted to either introduce theirself or ask him question.

He tried as much as he could to answer everyone but there was so much students he couldn't even eat.

"Sorry everyone. I really appreciate your welcome but I'm famished and I'm sure we'll have enough time to get to know each others."

It seemed like it did the trick as they got the hint and started to get back to their seats while saying things like "Talk to you later !" or "Nice meeting you !"

Harry let out a long sigh. He did not like getting unecessary attention. And Albus knew that. That's why he introduced Harry during the feast and not discreetly.

"I'll get you back for that, old fart, Harry muttered under his breath."

He heard someone clearing her throat.

He turned toward the sound, and he saw two people standing side by side.

One was male. Tall and thin, had red hair and freckles all over his face. He wore a small badge proudly displayed on his torso. The badge had a "P" on it and nothing else.

Behind him, stood a young woman with bushy brown hair and brown eyes. She seemed a little anxious for some reason.

"Sorry to interrupt your meal, Mr Potter, said the red haired boy. But I was told to give you a little introduction on how to proceed from now on. I'm Percy Weasly, the Gryffindor prefect. After your meal, you will have to go to the Gryffindor's common room. I suggest you follow another student. The password to the entrance is "Wattlebird". Here is your timetable you will be expected to every class."

"Thank you, Mr Weasley. I assume you are related to Bill and Charlie ?"

"Absolutely. We are brothers. I'm very glad they are back, even if some things they told me were... Unsettling."

"You bet. Tell them I said hi in your next letter, will you ?"

"I will."

"And who is this charming young lady, asked Harry while looking towards the girl."

"I'm Hermione... Hermione Granger. Professor McGonagall asked me to give you a quick review of what you will need to know, as you are in my year."

"Ah. Thank you very much then. I think there will be quite a lot you will need to tell me. All of this is so foreign to me. I feel really out of place."

"I will leave you two, said Percy. Have a nice evening."

He turn on his heels and walk away.

Harry gestured toward the seat next to him and waited for Hermione to sit down before he resume his meal.

"So you did not went to any magical school before Hogwarts, asked the young woman."

"Nope, replied Harry. Not in this world anyway. I mean, I had a teacher but I kind of was the only student he had. And we didn't use wands."

"You know wandless magic, asked Hermione while nearly shouting. But that's extremely advanced ! Most of the 7th years can't even cast Lumos without a wand."

"Calm down Miss Granger, replied Harry. It's not that simple. The truth is, this world magic and the magic in Ulcide works differently. Here you use wands and incantation and all that. Back there, there is magical foci but there are to use less of your magic to cast spell rather than to enable you to use them. It's quite complicated and I would need more time to explain how our magic work but that's for another day."

"Okay, answered the young woman. I'll ask you about that later then. Now tell me where you are in your studies in our magic..."


	4. Chapter Three : There's a first time

**AN : Hey there readers, it's me... Ya boi. I don't have anything to say except that feel free to review. It's really appreciated. I had a bit of a hard time writing this chapter but it was very fun nonetheless. I hope you'll like to read it as much as i liked writing it. Have a nice day.**

 **Chapter Three : There's a first time for everything.**

Harry was staring at the ceiling of his room.

It was 5:30 in the morning and he was already awake.

Last night he met his dormmate. Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean.

They seemed nice but it was still too soon to judge their characters.

He got up then went to take a shower. He could have done it yesterday evening or later this morning but he didn't want anyone to see his scars. And he wanted to take his time too.

Showers and baths were a luxury back then. So why not enjoy it now.

He took confort in the burning hot water running down his back and down his legs. Almost everyone would have been slightly burned by the heat but for Harry, it was pure bliss.

Through the steam he caught a glimpse of the necklace hanging around his neck.

Should he use it ? It's been two months already. He really should move on, so why couldn't he do it !

'It's not the first time I lose someone for fuck sake !' thought Harry. 'I should already be over it and yet...'

He refrained from punching a hole through the wall. That would not be very nice for his dormmates.

Sighing, he turned the water off then exited the bathroom to get dressed.

He went outside of the castle to work out. It would be bad to start his first day at school in a bad mood. So he started to exercice. First he ran. Then he went in the Forbidden Forest.

He found a small clearing then looked left and right, checking if anyone was there.

He extended his right arm and seemingly out of nowhere a sword appeared in his hand. It was not a fancy sword but a basic one handed straightsword. Even if it breaks he have thousands of those after all.

"I hope you're happy Ved'hel, asked Harry to the sky. Even in another world I'm still training..."

He faced a huge tree. Time for some training.

Breakfast was awesome. Even though he had time to get used to the fact that he'll never have to worry about food in this world, it still made him smile.

He used to hunt or gather his own food back then. Sure there were farms and farmers but most of what they produced either went to the local lord or was used to feed the family. Only a small portion of food was sold in the market and it was so expensive...

"Mr Potter ? Are you alright ?"

Minerva McGonagall was looking at him with a puzzled look on her face.

"Yes Professor. Sorry I was just daydreaming. How can I help you ?"

"I am here to hand you your timetable. Lessons start today."

"Oh sure. Thank you, Professor."

He grabbed the piece of parchment.

"I will see you again this afternoon in Transfiguration. Have a nice day until then."

"You too Professor..."

He spent the next five minutes looking at his timetable and wondering how he'll do in class.

He knew Albus thought him able to be in second year but he was still a bit unsure. After all, he was not very knowledgeable in this world's magic.

"Good morning Harry, said Hermione with a large smile as she sat down in front of him. Are you excited about the beginning of the year ?"

"Yeah, he replied with a smile. I'm a bit nervous about joining you guys but Alb- Professor Dumbledore think I'm good so I'll trust him."

Ron sat down next to him, in front of Hermione.

"Hi mate, greeted Ron with a yawn. You sure get up early. No one saw you leave this morning."

"It's an habit. I doubt I'll ever be able to do it otherwise. Plus the castle is beautiful at dawn..."

For a second Ron and Hermione saw his a pained look face but it was gone as quick as it came.

"So what can you guys tell me about our teachers ?"

Ron looked around him before he spoke. The breakfast seemed to do the trick in waking him up completely

"Snape is an ass. He teaches Potions. And by teach I mean he write the instructions on the board and takes points from Gryffindor all the while insulting us. Fortunately we don't have Potions today."

"Professor Snape, Ron, scowled Hermione. Apart from that every teachers are great. Professor McGonagall is strict but fair, Professor Flitwick is very enthusiastic and cheerful."

Harry noted that apart from the comment about Snape's title Hermione did not correct Ron about the Potions Master's behaviour.

"Okay, thanks guys. I'll make my own opinion about the other teachers. Speaking of which we have Herbology with Professor Sprout in an hour. I'll go get ready."

"See you then" "Later mate."

Harry was watching the sunset near the Black Lake while smoking a cigarette.

Today has been an interesting day. Herbology was very fun. It was about Mandrakes and Neville almost passed out because of the Mandrake's screams. Fortunately Harry saw that his earmuffs were not put correctly. Transfiguration was also very interesting. McGonagall tested Harry by making him turn a matchstick into a took him three tries but he managed to make an acceptable needle. His wand was definitely not a perfect fit for him.

After the sun had set, Harry made his cigarrette butt disapear and went in the Great Hall to have dinner.

Everyone was chatting excitedly and enjoying their meals in happiness. He could definitly see why Albus loved to watch this. Seeing all those young and somewhat still innocent people enjoying life without a care filled your heart with joy. No one needed to look over their shoulders, wondering if they'll see the next day, making friends without the fear that maybe tomorrow you will bury them...

It almost made up for all the horrors the Soldiers went through.

Shaking his head, he walked towards the Gryffindor Table.

"Hey mate, where were you, asked Ron."

"Outside, watching the sunset."

Hermione frowned.

"You smell like tobacco, she stated."

"Yeah, he said sheepishly while rubbing his neck. Don't bother. There is nothing you can say I never thought to myself. I know it's bad but for now it's part of my "coping mechanism". Well, according to Albus..."

Exactly at this moment the doors to the Great Hall opened with a loud noise.

Professor Quirrell came half running, half stumbling. He looked afraid and his face was sickly pale.

"Trolls in the dungeon ! Trolls in the dungeon ! Thouht you ought to know..."

And he "fainted". Harry narrowed his eyes when he saw the man collapse to the ground. It was an act.

The way he used his hands and elbows to cushion the fall told him that.

The students started panicking. Screams and cries everywhere. So much for safety.

Harry stood up and looked to Albus who nodded to him. The Headmaster held his wand and a loud bang resonated through the room.

"Everyone stay calm. We will deal with the situation. Prefect, accompany the student to their comm-. He stopped mid-sentence. Prefects, stay here with the students and the remaining Professors. Some of the common rooms are in the dungeons after all."

Albus stood up and Minerva and Snape followed him. Harry joined them under the stares of the student body.

"Lead the way, said Harry."

"What do you think you're doing Potter, snapped Snape. You're staying here like the rest of them."

Harry stared straight into his eyes but said nothing.

"Harry shall come with us, said Albus. He is as able to deal with the Trolls as me. Even more dare I say."

"What are you thinking Headmaster ? He's just an attention seeking brat like his father..."

Harry was about to reply when a young woman from Slytherin approched them.

"Professors ! One of the second year, Daphne Greengrass is still in the dungeon ! She had to write a letter and said she'll be coming right after !"

At the mention of the name Greengrass, Albus and Harry looked at each other then started running without a word. They paid no attention to Snape and Minerva shouting their names.

There is no way in hell that they would let Duncan's daughter die because of Snape's bickering.

After a couple of turns they arrived near the entrance of the dungeons. Still running Harry held his hand in front of him and formed a fist. Instantly a flash of light enveloped him and he was covered from head to toe in armour.

The chest piece looked like a chainmail, except that it was made out of countless white scales. There were two shoulder pads made out of white shining metal with two horns standing out of each side.

His legs were protected by black leather pants and he had jet black metal boots.

Albus nodded and he waved his wand. He was now covered by a thin veil of protective magic.

"How did the Trolls managed to get in the castle, asked Harry. You told me the wards were nearly impenetrable !"

"They must have been brought here by someone inside, replied Albus with a deep frown. And considering who discovered them, I suspect Quirell."

"I thought so. Did you noticed the way he fainted ? He cushioned his fall. It must be some kind of plan..."

"We'll deal with it later. First we have to get rid of those Trolls. Try to don't damage the castle too much."

Harry nodded.

At this moment, they turned left and stopped. In front of them, stood a dozen trolls holding different weapons. Some had wooden club while other had deadlier weapons. Not that a wooden club wielded by a Troll wasn't deadly.

They immediately jumped into action, their instinct taking command. Albus casted a Blasting curse towards the main group of Trolls. The explosion was heard across the entire castle, as it echoed across the hallways.

Meanwhile Harry was running at an incredible speed straight towards the first monster. He summoned a weapon from his personal collection. It was a metal spear but instead of a simple spearhead, this one had a longer and larger blade, forged using the same metal as his boots.

Twirling his weapon, he stabbed the spear in the floor and used his momentum to launch himself in the air. He twisted his body to face his opponent, which was preparing to launch an attack with his crude weapon.

Harry brought his weapon down using his two hands and the Troll knew no more. The weapons sliced it from the shoulder down through the hip without a a sound. As the creature fell, a huge amount of dark red blood sprayed everywhere. Harry's back was now covered in blood, dying his white armour crimson.

The young warrior paid it no attention as he resumed his onslaught. He held his spear at head level with his right hand and held his left hand in front of him. A red runic circle appeared in front of him.

If the Ancient Rune teacher, Bathsheda Babbling was here, she would have been stunned speechless. None of these runes were known to her and for a reason.

For the first time ever, an Ulcidian spell was being used on Earth.

Once the spell was complete, Harry threw the spear at the creatures in front of him. The projectile went through the circle and seemed to bring him with it. The now magicaly enhanced weapon flew across the hallway at a frightening speed. It was so quick that one could only see a black and red blur.

The spear went through the next monster like a knife through butter. When the spear impacted the ennemy a thunderous explosion echoed through the school.

In the Great Hall everyone was gossiping about what just happened.

By the look on the Potion Professor's face, Potter was in deep trouble. All of them were in frentic conversation about the way the Headmaster and his fellow Soldier ran straight towards danger with no back-up whatsoever.

Hermione and Ron were having a silent conversation as they stared at each other. It was one thing to know that Harry was a Soldier but to see him and the Headmaster go to battle as one was another.

They were just acquaitance but from what they had seen, Harry seemed like a polite and kind guy. But his entire demeanor changed as soon as Quirell entered the Hall. For one moment, they both caught a glimpse of the battle hardened Soldier. And it was awe-inspiring.

Then they heard the explosions. It seemed like the battle was already on. McGonagall and Snape exited the Great Hall to help.

While everyone was busy, no one saw one Quirinus Quirrell smile, Disillusion himself and leave the Hall.

Daphne Greengrass never ran this fast before. The day had started really good but now she was terrified. She had recieved a letter from her younger sister Astoria this morning. Apparantly, our new student, Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore had lunch at their place yesterday. Astoria mentioned the way her father and the two famous wizards were so close and how he was nothing like the way the bed-time stories depicted him, and how he said that their father and him were like best friends.

She hated him. She hated the Demonic War and those foolish enough to go to war in another world.

This damned conflict deprived her from her father for a whole year and she had lived in constant fear and anxiety the entire time. She was aware that if the demons won, they would invade Earth later on, but still thought that it was a problem for another time.

She grew colder and more distant as the time went by and her father did not come back. The once cheerful and perfect pureblood princess was now known as the Ice Queen of Slytherin after one of the upper years had an unfortunate "incident" involving his manhood and an ice spell when he kept harrassing her to go to Hogsmeade together. She had been given detention but did not lose any point. Even the detention was more for appearance's sake than punishment. She could swear she saw Professor McGonagall smile when she told her what transpired and the actual detention was spent drinking tea and discussing Transfiguration, Daphne's favorite subject.

Funny how you remember a lot of things when you're in a life-threatening situation. She was running away from two Trolls. She came face to face with them as she made her way to the Great Hall to have dinner after writing her letter to Astoria.

Those Trolls were weird. While most of them never wore more than a loin cloth, those two wore body armour and wielded large swords. Her long blond hair were sticking to her face because of the sweat and her grey eyes were brimming with tears. She didn't want to die, not now. Not when her father was finally back. Not now that she could yell and scream at him for leaving his family. Not that young, she simply couldn't it must be a nightmare.

Yet she still ran and ran, not bothering to look back. She didn't have to, as she could hear the heavy footsteps of the creatures behind her. Her lungs were on fire. She had been running for about two minutes and she was already out-of-breath. The muggleborns were right when they said that wizards are clearly out of shape physically.

She laughed nervously when she rememberd what a Muggleborn Hufflepuff had said about them. They relied so much on magic to do anything that when the time comes when magic can't help, they don't know what to do.

She tried to use a Bombarda but to no avail. When the spell impacted, the necklace the creature wore shone a bright ominous red and the spell got dispelled.

That's when she decided to run.

She turned to the right and stopped for a second.

In front of her she saw at least ten Trolls engaged in combat with two people.

She was dead. It was over. Ten Trolls in front of her and two behind her. She was cornered.

"Bombarda Maxima, yelled a voice she recognized asthe Headmaster's."

She covered her eyes when a bright light blinded her for a second, followed by the loudest detonation she had ever heard.

When she opened her eyes, she saw blood and guts everywhere and almost threw up. She heard a grunt behind her and her eyes grew wide when she realized she was about to get smashed to a bloody pulp by one of her pursuer.

At this moment the second man turned towards her. He was at least twenty meter away from her. Daphne knew she was done for and silently prayed for a painless death.

It would have been the end if not for Harry Potter, the same guy she wanted to rip to pieces twenty minutes ago.

Said young man jerked his hand towards his feet and two white runic circles appeared around his legs. It all hapenned too fast for her to react.

He seemed to disapear for a fraction of a second then she was carried away just as the heavy sword of the Troll smashed the ground she stood on a second ago.

Some girls would have killed to be in her place. Being carried away from harm by the Boy-Who-Lived. However it was not a bridal carry as many would hope. Neither was it gentle in any way. He just grabbed her like a sack of potato and threw her on his shoulder.

Daphne was nauseous from the fast movement. He moved too fast for her eyes to comprehend. He jumped and bounced on a wall and landed next to Dumbledore who was still casting spells like no tomorrow.

He dropped her slowly to the floor. And Daphne stood still.

"Run,commanded Harry. What the fuck are you waiting for !"

She was shocked to the core about the event that just transpired, not mentioning sick with the stench of the slaughter that unveiled before her. She could hardly move now.

"Tsk."

"Drop it, she's in shock, said the Headmaster between two spell. **Bombarda Maxima** ! Get back there, I'll protect her."

The young man stood up and rushed towards the battle. He didn't even had his wand in his hand, noticed Daphne. What is he doing ?

Harry held his hand in the air and a dark green bow shimmered to existence. The young woman saw her savior draw the string of his bow and a transparent blue arrow appeared, already notched.

Using his incredible speed, he slid on the ground and released his arrow straight in the eye of the first Troll before him, before sliding between the leg of the creature, who fell shortly after.

At this moment, Daphne heard hurried footsteps behind her and looked back in fear. She thought it might have been another monster. Fortunately it was Professor McGonagall and her Head of House, Professor Snape.

"Miss Greengrass, thank Merlin, you're okay, said McGonagall with genuine relief."

She had taken a liking to this young witch who was so interested in her specialty.

"Where's Potter, asked Snape with no small amount of anger."

Daphne turned towards the battle and weakly pointed her finger to the general direction of the young wizard.

The three of them stood still for a long moment. Minerva had heard of the battle prowess of the sole survivor of the Potter family, but never saw it. As for Severus and Daphne, they both looked in awe and fear at the young man.

Gone was the bow. How did Potter conjure it wandlessy, Daphne didn't knew. Neither did she knew how it disapeared. Now the young Soldier was wielding two swords. The blades were red. Wheter it was because of the blood of his ennemies or the natural color of the metal she did not know.

The way he fought was enthralling. It seemed as though he was dancing through the attacks of the Trolls. He twisted his body, sidestepped, turned around and jumped all over in a seamless choregraphy. It almost seemed staged as the Trolls were incapable of touching him. He was surrounded on all side and yet the only blood he had on him was not his.

Harry gracefully sidestepped a vertical blow. It was without a doubt one of the most barbaric attack the onlookers ever saw. He let his left sword scrape the giant battleaxe and used the momentum to redirect the blow to the Troll on his left. The axe left a gushing wound on the abdomen of the target.

Guts and blood spilled on the floor, and his boots were drenched in the crimson liquid.

Meanwhile Albus kept firing spells after spells. Some of them were common but most seemed of his own design. The old Headmaster used a mix of Transfiguration and Curses. He kept hurling lethal attacks towards them without a pause.

"What are you doing, asked the old man. Help us !"

It woke up the two professors from their stupor and they drew their wands and joined the fray.

Meanwhile Harry kept on slashing, slicing and stabbing, rapidly disposing of his ennemies.

He lost himself in the rythm of battle, and was writing a song of death around him.

Each and every movement was a note he played with his body, playing a tune only him could hear.

Every now and then the professors caught themselves stoping to watch, while Daphne was completely entranced.

He kept switching weapons, using whatever you could imagine. One moment he was swinging a large Zweihander and the next throwing knives. Soon only the two Trolls that followed Daphne were left. The floor was covered in bodies and blood.

One of them roared then charged right at him, ready to swing his sword. Harry jumped over him and was about to strike with a spear when he caught a glimpse of the necklace the creature wore, and held back his blow.

Using a green runic circle, Harry called forth a carpet of tall grass and bushes before retreating towards Albus. It was a fascinating sight, even for wizards. Conjuration of such a large scale were difficult and yet he did it in a second and did not looked tired in the slightest.

The plants then seemed to come to life and started to entangle the creatures. They were slowed down, but not for long.

"They've got demonic protections, told Harry to his old partner. The same kind that Baal did !"

"Well, so much for trying to preserve the castle then, replied Albus. The Headmaster then turned to his staff memeber and the young woman still on the floor. "Step back, we'll have to overpower their protections."

Minerva grabbed Daphne and yanked her on her feet. She got up but was still looking straight at the unlikely duo that was Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore.

Even Snape started to think that it maybe was not such a great idea to antagonize Potter too much.

"Shall we Albus, asked Harry with a smile."

"After you Harry, replied the Headmaster with a smile on his own."

They both prepared themselves. The old wizard held his wand and the raven haired Soldier his hand aiming straight at the monsters. He then poured magic to another of those strange red runic circles.

One could literally see magic flowing from his hand to power the magical formation in the air.

Soon another layer was added to the previous single circle, making the air around it vibrate with power.

When the Trolls got out of their vegetal bonds, they saw the smirking faces of their opponents.

They both unleashed their spells.

It lasted just a second. The hallway was filled with a blinding white light that forced the bystanders to look away. When they looked back, there was nothing. The floor, which was a second ago, littered with bodies, blood, guts and shit was now barren. The two Trolls seemed to have disapeared into thin air and the wall across the corridor was just gone. Simply gone. They could see the surrounding of the castle and the mountains in the background, as if there never was a wall here in the first place.

All of them stood still for a moment in silent contemplation. What they saw defied everything they knew of the rules of magic. It was frightening but oddly fascinating.

Their train of thoughts were interrupted when the Headmaster took a step towards Harry, and used his thumb and index finger to pick a small part of guts out of the green eyed young man's hair.

"Oh, thanks, said Harry. Didn't noticed."

"Of course you didn't, said Albus softly. You never notice this kind of things. Remember when we got attacked in one of the camp and you came running to battle with a piece of toilet paper still tucked in your pants ?"

"Come on ! That's not fair and you know it ! You and Duncan will never let me forget that, will you ?"

"Nope, said the Headmaster with a level of casualty no one thought him capable of. Either him or me will tell your children about it one day. Amongst all the other humiliating things you did."

"Speaking of Duncan, replied Harry in an attempt to change the subject. I think that now that the threat is dealt with we should take care of his daughter."

They walked towards the said girl and the two dumbstrucked teachers next to her. She recoiled when she saw Harry's armour covered in smear approaching her. He suddenly became self-conscious of his very inappropriate state.

"Sorry about that, he said as the red-stained armour disappeared in a bright flash. I didn't mean to scare you."

"You are safe now, Miss Greengrass, soothed the Headmaster. Everything will be alright. We are going to head to the Hospital Wing to get you checked. Can you walk ?"

Daphne nodded and stood up.

"Minerva and Severus, I want you to go to the Great Hall and tell the student that the threat is over and that they can finish their meal and head directly to their dorms. I will hold a staff meeting tonight and all teacher shall attend, am I clear ?"

"Yes Headmaster, they replied in unison, too stunned to say anything else."

"Good. Now let's go Miss Greengrass."

Daphne was now in deep slumber, under the effect of a Dreamless Sleep potion. Madam Pomfrey stated that she was fine except for her evident shock. They had informed the Greengrasses of what had transpired and now that they had arrived everyone as in deep conversation. Annabelle was talking to Poppy Pomfrey about Daphne's condition, sharing their medical knowledge. They had decided to call a Mind Healer to help her cope with the trauma and the first session was planned to be held as soon as Daphne was ready.

Duncan was torn between anger and relief. Anger because someone inside the castle had managed to bypass the wards and bring dangerous creature inside the so called "safest place in the world", and relief, because while his daughter was in shock, she was still unharmed.

"Don't get me wrong you two, I am ever so grateful that you saved my eldest, but could you tell me how the hell did those Trolls get inside ?"

" _Those were definitely not normal Trolls_ , replied Harry while switching to Ulcidian. _They were well equipped and two of them wore Draining Necklaces._ "

" _It seems as though my fears were not unfounded,_ said Albus with a hint of shame _. While I am happy that we could rescue her in time, it reminded me how much we thought ourselves invincible inside those walls. I think I will reconsider the offer of the Minister to place Aurors around the castle. I would however like your help in the matter. The both of you."_

" _Well for now, focus on repairing the wall and reinforcing the wards of the castle,_ suggested Harry _. If the needs arises, I'll give you more money. With the things I have back in Ulcide, I could easily provide enough funds."_

At this moment the four Head of Houses walked into the Hospital Wing with worry etched on their faces.

"Albus, called Minerva. Quirrilus have disappeared ! No one saw him since he collapsed in the Great Hall."

"Well, I think I know where he went, replied the Headmaster with an ominous expression. Lord Greengrass, are you up for a little game of "Catch the spy" ?"

"My daughter is now safe and after all of this, I need a distraction. If my wife accept to let me go with you of course."

"Mr Potter, asked Albus. Up for another round ?"

"Sure, replied the young man with confidence as he walked with the Headmaster and Duncan towards the exit of the Hospital Wing. But after that I'm definitely getting some Angel's Drop."

"You wouldn't drink without us Harry, replied Duncan in mock-hurt."

"I don't know apparently both of you swore some kind of oath to tell my potential future children about embarassing stories about me. Dunno if I want to share my drinks with you now."

"Where are you even going to find Angel's Drop at this hour of the evening, asked Albus with interest."

Everyone watched them walk away and banter playfully with each others until they gradually could not hear them anymore as they exited.

"What in Merlin's name did we just witness, asked Professor Pomona Sprout in confusion."

"Don't bother, said Minerva, Severus and Annabelle in one voice."


	5. Chapter Four : Movement In The Shadows

**Chapter Four : Movement In The Shadows.**

"So let me get this straight, said Harry while pinching his nose. You put a Cerberus in a school, behind a regural door. And you planned to say to a bunch of kids that there was something dangerous in this corridor without properly forbidding them to come here ?"

"I told you I wasn't the same man as I am right now, replied Albus with a sigh. And now, I have to fix my mistakes. Fortunately, you never came for your first year so I just told the students that it was under renovation."

"Thanks Merlin you changed, said Duncan. I really want to punch the past you."

They were standing next to the door that led to the Underground Chambers, where the Philosopher Stone was supposed to be hidden. The door was blasted open.

"Are we going to stand here all night, asked Harry. We have a mole to catch."

"He can't be very far away. Even if Fluffy isn't here anymore, there's still the other Professors' defences. And mine."

"Oh yeah, the mighty Devil's Snare, replied Duncan sarcastically. The plant your students learned about in FIRST year. Or the horrific chesspiece that you can bypass by simply walking around. Really tough, Albus."

"As I said before, said Albus with his face flushed with shame, I was too full of myself back then. I thought I was always right and never listened to my staff advices."

They pushed the remains of the door and entered the dark room. The trapdoor was already wide open. Not wasting anymore time they jumped in. Duncan and Albus cast **Arresto Momentum** to slow down their fall and Harry used another one of those white runic array around his legs during the fall and landed gracefully.

As soon as their feet touched the ground, the Devil's Snare tried to grab them but two older wizards used a **Lumos Maxima** to drive it away and they walked away, completely unharmed.

"The next chamber is a bit trickier, explained the Headmaster. Their is a swarm of charmed keys flying around and you are supposed to use the old broom purposely left there to grab it. Of course you won't need it."

"I don't even have to fly, replied Harry, my Enhancement is enough."

The next trial went as planned. Harry jumped at a neckbreaking speed towards the key Albus pointed to him and grabbed it on his first try. They simply unlocked the door and closed it before the keys could even start to attack them.

"I have a question though, said Harry. Why are we going through these trials the normal way when we could just blast our way through and be done with it ?"

"Because we're dumb that's why, replied Duncan. I can't believe that we just wasted some precious time by playing fair..."

"Well, my staff put their hearts and souls into this, even if my orders were misguided, answered Albus. However I think they will forgive us if it's for the sake of catching the person behind the attack of the Trolls."

And so they did. They blasted the chesspieces to smithereens and went through the door in less than a minute.

The fifth chambers was empty, Quirell having emptied the room for them on his way. The corpse of the regular mountain Troll laid on the floor, his face blown up.

"Now the next room will be troublesome, said Albus with a frown. If Quirell drank the potion entirely we'll have to spend time dispelling the black flames. Severus is a skilled wizard and it will take some time. However, I think he'll be too arrogant and leave us enough for one person, as a way to taunt us."

"How the hell did you arrived to this conclusion, asked Duncan raising an eyebrow."

"Deus Ex Machina, answered Harry. Don't question it."

They entered the sixth chamber and purple flames roared to life behind them.

As the Headmaster said, only one gulp was left in the vial.

"I'll go first, stated Harry. You guys can follow me after you dispelled the flames."

"Be careful, replied Dumbledore."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"It's not you I worry about. There's a priceless artifact in there and I'd hate losing it."

The raven haired Soldier downed the potion in one go and walked through the black flames, muttering about "heartless old men" and "dumb artifact".

He entered a large open room with stone pillars supporting the roof. In the middle of the chamber stood a huge mirror and in front of the mirror, Quirell his hand behind his back.

Harry felt a ominous wave of dark energy emanating from the man and immediately summoned his long spear.

"Drop your wand Quirell, ordered Harry. It's over now."

"It's such a wonderful item don't you think, asked Quirell without acknowledging Harry's command. Simple minds would be ensnared by the vision shown in the reflect. To see not your face but your heart's desire..."

"There's nothing wrong with being a simple mind, answered Harry. If everyone was special, in the end no one would be."

"I don't understand why you, of all people would say that. Aren't you hypocritical ? The Boy-Who-Lived, brother in arms of Albus Dumbledore, Soldier of the Legion of Light. Everything about you is extraordinary."

"Maybe I am an hypocrite. Maybe not. It would be presumptuous of me to say. I fought alongside Angels and still can't tell you exactly what is Good and what is Evil. However I do know that whatever you plan to do with this stone cannot be allowed to happen. Voldemort shall not rise again."

"That is not up to you to decide, said a rasp voice coming from the turban. In fact, it is up to no one to decide, even not Quirinus here."

The DADA teacher turned around and revealed his pale and tearful face.

"I'm sorry Mr Potter, said the Professor with a quivering voice. I really am, but I can't do anything. I can think and speak, but the rest of my body is no longer under my control..."

Harry narrowed his eyes. What Quirell described was reminiscent of what Harry knew as Demonic possessions. The way demons liked to allow their puppet just enough leeway for them to be aware of what their bodies were doing. It was sickening. People committing atrocities, crying, screaming, imploring their victims to forgive them as they were not in control. Most of them went insane. Harry will never forget the face of the man who begged someone to kill him as the demon was raping his dead daughter with the said father's body.

"How long, asked Harry with an emotionless voice. How long have this been going on ?"

"A year and nine months, and I can't bare it any longer. Please-"

"Enough, roared the horrible voice from behind the turban. It's time to end this. I'll kill the boy and then take the Stone myself !"

Quirell screamed in agony and then his head dropped down. When he looked back up, his fearful eyes were replaced blood red ones. His entire demeanor had changed. The spirit was now fully in control.

Harry springed into action. Raising his hand an orange circle appeared and a ball of fire flew straight towards Quirell's body. Voldemort was taken aback by the speed of the young man and was barely able to dodge. Quirell's left shoulder was still singed by the hellish temperature of the spell and his host hissed in pain. The Dark Lord decided to go on the offensive. Waving his wand, he cast vicious curses at the man responsible for his previous defeat. **Cruciatus Curses, Killing Curses** , and all kind of lethal spells were hurled at Harry and the young man was kept on his toes as he rolled, jumped and ran. He was gauging his opponent to know what he could and could not do.

Harry used his white runic array to enhance his speed again, as the previous Enhancement was over. He rolled on his right side and put his left hand on the ground. Immediately a brown circle came into existence. The ground shook and the floor started to part as a rift was created. Voldemort had to move in order to keep his balance. Taking advantage of his enemy's predicament, Harry hurled his spear straight to the dark wizard's heart, using the same red circle he did against the Trolls.

As the spear was about to strike Voldemort raised Quirell's hand and to Harry's surprise cast a kind of spell the young warrior knew all too well. The familiar red circle fired a black ray that destroyed the spear and made Harry dodge.

Unfortunately, the young man was too bewildered to dodge the attack. With god-like reflexes, he summoned his armour. The spell hit him and despite his chest piece, Harry suffered a wound on his abdomen. He would have died if it wasn't for his armour that was now ruined. It was not a life threatening injury, but it still hurt like a bitch.

Dropping on one knee, one hand on the ground and the other holding his wound. Harry looked straight at Riddle's smirking face.

"War magic, asked the green eyed Soldier. It can't be !"

"Oh, surprised aren't you, mocked the Dark Lord. You thought you were the only one ?"

"But only an Angel can teach War Magic !"

Voldemort laughed and his maniacal laughter echoed in the chamber.

"You are right. Only an Angel can teach you War Magic. I must say I am jealous. I'm only starting to learn and yet the simplest spells are even more fascinating than everything I learned in my studies of Dark Magic. But my teacher is very pleased with my progress..."

Harry's brain went into hyper-drive as he thought about what the bastard said. Demons had their own branch of War Magic but it wasn't what Voldemort used. It was definitely from Angelic origins but it seemed twisted, like even the spell did not want to be cast but was forced to obey his inherent laws.

"After all, there is one Angel that defected in History. Or should I say, was exiled ?"

Comprehension dawned on Harry's face as he finally understood.

"We should have known that Lucifer would not stand idly. So that's what he's been doing all this time..."

"Your time is up now, Potter, said Riddle as he pointed his wand to Harry. I'll end you tonight."

Harry smirked

"Time is up as you said, "Tom". But not for me."

Voldemort looked around him and realised his mistake. While they were talking, Harry had discreetly put a magical formation around him. Five crackling yellow runic circles were surrounding him, forming a pentagram.

Harry triggered the trap with a flick of his hand and lightning shot towards the Dark Lord, making Quirell's body shake as electricity coursed through his body.

Harry didn't waste any time and summoned a simple straight sword in his right hand. He jumped towards Voldemort, moving too fast for the naked eye.

The chamber was now completely silent as the trap was dispelled. The young man stood in front of Quirell, with his blade in the poor man's chest.

In his final moment, Quirinus Quirell regained control of his body.

"Thank you, he mouthed, unable to speak as blood spilled from his mouth. Thank you so much."

The Professor was smiling with tears in his eyes. He would finally be at peace. No longer will he have to be afraid.

With a disgusting noise, Voldemort's face left Quirell's head, blood gushing from the skin that was ripped off. The DADA teacher had already breathed his last and felt no pain as the abomination left his body.

"Your resistance is futile Potter, stated the wraith. I shall walk this earth again, with my own body and more powerful than anyone can imagine. You merely postponed the inevitable."

And with a ear-splitting scream, the wraith disappeared.

Quirell was still smiling, his eyes open and full of tears. Harry closed his eyelids with his finger and picked the unfortunate man's body without any regard to his own injury. The sword had disappeared from his chest and blood was still dropping from the deep wound, tainting Harry's shirt beneath the now useless chestpiece.

Duncan and Albus entered the room, wands at the ready. They noticed that the battle was over. Scorching marks and impacts from spells were scattered all around the room.

"We need to talk, said Harry before they could speak. The situation is worse than what we feared."

Albus sighed and showed the center of the room with a defeated expression.

Duncan and Harry turned around to see the Mirror of Erised completely broken.

"Sorry Al', apologized Harry. But it wasn't me."

"It's okay, replied the Headmaster. At least the Stone is safe forever now. I'll have to write the Flamels though..."

"You're hurt, asked Duncan with worry and surprise."

"Yeah, nothing dangerous but it'll take some time to heal even with my abilities."

Harry took a deep breath.

"I fear the War has not yet ended."

Harry was sitting next to Albus while he was explaining what happened during the day. Duncan went to check on his daughter in the Hospital Wing.

The Headmaster explained that he had suspicions about Voldemort being still alive. He apologized to his staff about the way he disregarded their warnings and rightful questions.

"I know that my actions in the past have been questionable to say the least, he told them. But someone made me see the error of my ways."

As he went on, Harry seemed to go through a whole range of emotions, and the teachers noticed.

It has been like this since day one for the young man. In battle he shut down his heart. He become an emotionless killing machine. His old master taught him that emotions in battle could lead him to his demise and he took this advice to heart. Most of the time anyway.

The real problem was the aftermath of the fights. The guilt of being unable to save someone, the anger at his ennemies actions, the sadness of losing a friend or someone even closer...

The room they were in was very large and had a large window, a huge wooden table with enough confortable chairs to accommodate every teacher. The portaits were coming and going, oblivious to the fact that a conversation that would change the course of history was going on.

"And that's where Mr Potter here entered the last room to face Professor Quirell. He will tell the rest of the story as I don't know it myself."

Focusing on the task at hand, Harry cleared his throat.

"When I entered, he was facing the Mirror of Erised. We thought that Professor Quirell was working with Voldemort so I prepared for battle. However he was in fact possessed by Voldemort's spirit."

Some Professors raised an eyebrow at the strange statement while Snape snickered. Harry paid it no attention and kept going.

"The symptoms he described fit perfectly with the one we witnessed during the War. The victim of a Demonic possession is unable to control his or her body but the demons generally leave them the ability to speak and think, in order to torment them further as they witness the monstruosity comitted using their bodies..."

His eyes seemed to look somewhere far away for a second.

"You know what, asked Harry. Alb- Professor Dumbledore told me about a magical item you have in your world, something that allow people to watch memories. A Pen-something..."

" A Pensive. Good idea, replied Albus. I will fetch it."

When the Headmaster came back with the Pensive he touched three runes carved in the stone basin. The Pensive got large enough for everyone to dive in the memory.

"Hold your wand to your temple and think about the memory you want to extract, explained the old Headmaster. I will handle the rest."

The young man did as such and a silver strand of a strange cotton-like matter was placed in the bowl.

"How long will it take Albus, asked Minerva."

"No longer than ten minutes from the moment we got separated to the point when Mr Potter got out of the chamber. Please refrain from asking your questions while we are watching the memory. We will answer everything once we are back from our trip down memory lane."

The Professors nodded then put their heads in the magic water after Albus.

Harry had nothing to keep him fom his dark thoughts now. He used to have someone to confort him during those times before, but now he was left to his own devices. Sure, he had his brothers and sisters in arms, but it was not the same. He had no one to take him in their arms while he was crying, no one to soothe him in the middle of the night, when his nightmares will come. For the nightmares will come back tonight. No one to show him that life was not only going from battle to battle. He put his head in his hands and grabbed a handful of hair, rocking back and forth in his chair.

Why her ?

Why did she have to leave him alone ?

Didn't he suffered enough ?

He stayed like this for a minute or two and the Professors finally came back stumbling from the memory.

The room was silent for a second then, every one of them started asking questions at the same time, creating a cacophony. His ears were ringing and his wound was hurting him, which did not help improve his already bad mood.

"Silence, bellowed Albus. How do you expect us to answer to anything in these conditions ?"

Professor McGonagall started first

"Would you mind telling us what kind of magic did you use ? We saw you fight against the Trolls but you never explained it to us..."

Harry nodded.

"The first thing you have to know is that back in Ulcide, magic was not like on Earth. Every human can use magic. However some people are stronger than others, that's the only main difference. Except for your chosen Domain of course..."

The Professors looked at each others with a confused expression.

"Oh right, sorry. I forget the fact that you're completely clueless about Ulcidian magic. A Domain is your branch of magic. According to the Angels, Magic needed a balance in Ulcide. Look in your world. Wizards are so few compared to non-magicals. However you are able to do almost anything right ? That's your balance. In Ulcide, to compensate the fact that everyone can do magic, one can only learn one Domain. Be it Earth Magic, Fire Magic, Healing or Water Magic, whatever Domain you want to learn probably exist. But you can only pick one."

A woman in her thirties raised a hand. Her name was Bathsheda Babbling, the Ancient Runes Professor at Hogwarts. She had long dark hair, flowing down to her backside, and brown eyes.

"So that what those runic arrays were, asked the Ancient Runes teacher. I was wondering as I never saw such things."

"Yes, those are the catalysts to our spells. We don't need wands to cast our spells but we have to remember the arrays. Most of us like to invent an incantation to help them remember the spell."

"Mr Potter, asked the usually cheerful Professor Flitwick. During your fight against V-Voldemort's spirit, you used all kind of Domains. A fire spell, an earth spell and and lightning one right ?"

"And a Enhancing spell too. I see where you are going. You also heard us talk about War Magic. Well, that is what my Domain is. War Magic..."

"I don't understand, asked Professor McGonagall. You just told us that Ulcidians can only learn one type of magic in order to keep the balance. So why are you able to use multiple ?"

"Because War Magic is not a Domain available for humans. Usually. You heard that only an Angel can teach you War Magic as I know it. Or a Demon can teach you Demonic War Magic but let's leave it for later. When I told you in the Headmaster's office that I learned Magic from Ved'hel, my mentor, I twisted the truth a bit... It's... Fuck, it's going to be a long night."

"May I remind you Mr Potter that I told you to mind your language."

"Actually, if I remember correctly, your exact words were " I would like you to refrain from using such foul language in front of other students.". Which I did by the way. Anyway, I should start from the beginning."

Harry stood up and started pacing around the room, struggling to find the words.

"A long time ago, there was another race in Ulcide. They were the first creations of the old gods and even had the blessing of God with a capital G. They lived for centuries, were as graceful as Angels and all were magically powerful. This race, the First Race were the Elves. Their civilisation flourished for centuries. If I had to compare them to us they would be the missing link between humanity and Angels. But for all of their qualities they had one major flaw that will be their downfall. They were arrogant. So arrogant that they became jealous of the power Angels wielded. They started to study War Magic even when they were warned not to. War Magic is more than a Domain to master. It is a blessing and a curse. Remember that you can use only one Domain of Ulcidian Magic. Now, consider that even a user of Fire Magic, the most destructive of the four basic elements, can live a confortable life in a time of peace. You can find a job in a forge, or be a cook...

But if you are a War mage, you're doomed to a life of constant fighting. You will either make enough money fighting for your life or die trying. You will either be a hunter of magical beasts, a mercenary or a bounty hunter... All of our spells can only be used for battle. Even the first fire spell you learn is too powerful to light a fire, as you will just burn the wood to cinders...

"The Elves had barely scratched the surface of War Magic when they declared themselves rulers of Ulcide. They could barely use Medium Tiered spells and yet they thought they were invicible. So the old Gods punished them. They removed their blessings. The innocents were turned into humans, weaker, with ungraceful bodies, or dwarves, short and burly, forced to hide in the mountains during the day, only able to see the sky when it darkens. The more arrogant they were, the worst their fate. The most prideful of Elves were taken in another world and never seen again. In the end, only one Elf was left and was cursed to be immortal and unable to leave his now empty homeland."

The young man stopped to watch the Professors' reaction. They all listened with rapt attention. Even Snape tried to hide the fact that he was leaning forward in interest.

Harry walked to the window and opened it. He then sat on the edge facing the Professors. Even Albus was listening. He already knew the story, but he only heard it once.

"Ved'hel was the Last Elf. That's actually what his name means. It has been too long for him to remember his birth name. He spent too much time alone, walking the empty halls of his people. You should see them. Their architects were without a doubt, geniuses. It's surreal. The landscape and the buildings merge together seamlessly. Such a shame..."

Silence welcomed the end of his story.

"Now you know why I needed that bottle back then, Professor McGongall..."

A small smile cracked the usually stern face of the Scottish witch.

"Well I don't know this Ved'hel, but he must have be incredibly stupid to enthrust you with such a power."

Harry turned towards the origin of the voice. Snape was glaring at him, his eyes burning with hatred.

"To teach such a powerful magic to the son of James Potter. He should have known better than to teach War Magic to spawn of the most arrogant man ever."

"He did it with the agreement of two Angels, replied Harry with barely concealed irritation. He taught me much more than just magic. They all did..."

The young Soldier summoned a cigarette and lit it with his wand. Snape was very close from making his anger explode. The stress of today all came down at once, now that they were done.

"Who do you think you are brat, snarled the Potion Master. We did not grant you permission to smoke here ! That's what I'm talking about ! Obviously the two Angels were out of their minds when they-"

He never got to end his sentence. The young man jumped to his feet and with a blinding light disapeared under an armour. Albus recognized it at first glance. He had seen it many times now.

It was no longer the armour McGonagall and Snape saw him use during his fight against the Trolls or against Quirell.

Gone was the white scales chestpiece and the leather pants. Before them stood the embodiment of fear and power.

His head was covered with a giant skull. Two bleached horns curved upside, hollowed eyes socket of the deepest black, razor sharp fangs and a jaw that looked capable of crushing a metal plate with a single chomp.

His chest piece was completely metalic or so it seemed. It looked made out of obsidian as the light reflected on it. It must have weighted a ton. His greaves of the same material gave him the look of an apex predator, ready to pounce on his prey at a moment's notice.

"Who I think I am, replied the outraged Soldier. I AM DEMONSBANE ! I closed the doors of Hell and pushed back the Archdemon Baal ! That is who I am, Severus Snape !"

His voice seemed distorted behind the skull, like coming out from the deepest pits of Hell, making him even more frightening.

Magic rolled out in waves out of his body, sending ripples trough the air. Realising he lost his temper, Harry took deep breaths, muffled behind his terrifying skull.

"I think you should go get this injury checked Harry, said Albus with a calm voice. You had a rough day. I will take it from here. Could you come to my office tomorrow ?"

Harry nodded then left the office without a word. The terrified Professors watched as he walked to the exit. As they saw him walk away, they all noticed the two long slits in the back of the chestpiece.

As he closed the door, Harry sent his armor back where it came from.

Realising that he left his smoke on the floor in his anger and that Albus had probably already banished it, he sighed and walked to the courtyard to smoke another one. Plus it would kinda ruin his dramatic exit if he went back inside to pick it up.

On his way he met a few students who were strolling in the castle. They stared at him when they noticed his blood stained white shirt, but he kept walking.

Enjoying the fresh air of early November on his face, Harry closed his eyes and sighed before lighting his cigarette.

It was already late and there was only fifteen minutes before curfew.

"Sorry, could you lend me a smoke, asked a Hufflepuff in his year. I'm all out."

"Sure, just a sec'."

Harry conjured a smoke and gave it to the young man in front of him.

"Of course, he said as he face-palmed himself. I never even thought about using magic. I'm an idiot. I spent so much money buying packs when I could've done that..."

"Ahahah, I never realised that it was that expensive. I just borrowed one, studied it and then I practiced until I could get a perfect replica. It will take a while but you'll get it eventually."

"Thanks a lot. I'm Justin. Justin Finch-Fletchley. Muggleborn."

"Harry Potter, and you're welcome. I thought you were No-maj' raised. I never saw a pureblood smoke before."

"No-maj' ?"

"That's how they call Muggles where the guy who told me about it was from. He struggled to remember the name but could not. Muric... Amurico..."

"America, supplied his new acquaintance. Anyway, about pureblood not smoking, good for them, I guess. Even if we are stronger than Muggles or No-maj' as you call them, it can't be without consequences either."

He seemed to notice the dried blood on Harry's shirt but the young Soldier told him that everything will be explained tomorrow morning at breakfast.

At this moment, a ringing noise was heard Justin pulled out a strange device from his pocket and pressed a button. The weird item emitted a bright light and kept ringing.

"Urgh, it's my mum, groaned Justin. I'll call her back once I'm in the common room."

"What the hell is that, asked Harry with wide eyes."

"Never saw a phone before ?"

"A phone ? No, I have no clue what that thing is !"

Justin chuckled.

"Its full name is smartphone. It's a device that allow you to communicate with other people that have one and do all kind of awesome stuff..."

The next ten minutes were spent explained to Harry what the Internet was and how the wards at Hogwarts used to prevent the use of electricity until a group of Muggle-born graduated a couple of years ago and started researching the issue. Now there even was Wifi in the castle.

Harry's mind was blown as he realised the gap in technology between this world and his. He understood why Albus thought highly of Muggles despite their obvious flaws.

"I should go back to my room now, said Justin as he looked at the time on his phone. It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise Justin, replied Harry with a smile. See you around."

They shook hands and went their separate ways. The green eyed young man had asked him the way to the Hospital Wing before hand.

When he entered he saw Duncan's daughter sleeping surrounded by her parents. Madam Pomfrey came to him soon after.

"Mr Potter, asked the school nurse. I was expecting you. Lord Greengrass told me what happened. You took your sweet time getting here."

"Sorry about that ma'am, he replied sheepishly. I needed some fresh air after the meeting."

"Lie down, she said pointing to the bed next to Daphne."

Harry obliged and sat down on the mat.

"I will need you to remove your clothes."

"Okay, he said a bit insecure. Just a heads up, I'm not really a sight for sore eyes."

Duncan already saw everything he had to hide. Privacy is not your top priority on the battlefield, so when you come across a water point, you usually wash yourself in the altogether with your comrads. He was more worried about Annabelle's reaction. He remembered how she gasped when she saw his arms. And his chest was far worse.

He took of his shirt and winced when he heard Poppy and Annabelle gasp.

His muscular torso was covered in various scars. Biting marks, burns, small and big cuts that healed overtime. Each and every marks were mementos of the life he used to live before coming to Earth.

As she proceeded to heal Harry's recent wound by administering him many potions and spells, the school matron kept her mouth shut, as well as Annabelle.

Most of the questions they wanted to ask had one obvious answer. How ? When ? Where ? The response for all of those questions was "The War."

"I've never seen anything like this, stated the nurse. Your body seems to heal itself at such a fast rate !"

"That's correct. The wound will be closed tomorrow morning but it will leave a scar. And hurt like a b-" He cleared his throat. "And hurt a lot."

"Fascinating... I can't let you leave the infirmary in such a state so you will stay here for the night regardless."

"Could you do me a favor and give me a Dreamless Sleep potion as well ? I would like to be able to sleep soundly tonight after all that happened..."

"Of course, Mr Potter. I will bring a vial. You stay here and get ready to sleep."

Annabelle walked to his bed side and took his hand in hers.

"I never thanked you properly for saving Daphne. So thank you, Harry. We owe you immensely."

"You're welcome, he said with a soft smile. Duncan would have done the same for me."

"Thank you nonetheless. I wish you goodnight."

"Good night Lady Greengrass."

"It's Annabelle for you."

At least he had his friends with him.

'Maybe I'll be okay after all...' he thought with a small smile.

 **AN : Hey guys it's me again. I'm glad this chapter is over. I started over at least three times until I was satisfied with the result. It's a turning point for the story because it's the first time we learn about Harry's life in Ulcide. There will be a lot more coming though ! I have a lot of ideas I absolutely can't wait to share with you.**

 **Also thanks to everyone who followed and/or favorited this story.**

 **Big shoutout to my first reviewers :**

 **Who Are You What Do You Want, keyblademeister88, Raceman1234 and potterlegend93.**

 **Thank you guys for your input and keep the reviews coming, they really make my day.**

 **See you next time !**


	6. Chapter Five : Talking Under The Moon

**Check the AN at the end of the chapter. It will be longer than usual but I think it's necessary.**

 **DISCLAIMER : I don't own Harry Potter.**

 **Chapter Five : Talking Under The Moon.**

Daphne woke up in a bad mood. As if her day was not exausting enough, someone in the Hospital Wing was talking in his sleep !

She opened her eyes and took a minute to get used to the dark. The annoying patient was sleeping in the bed next to her and she had half a mind to wake him up with a stinging hex in order to stop his rambling.

She tried to see who he was but could not as he had his arm across his face, covering his facial features.

She sat up and tried to hear what he was saying. It took her a few moments to realise that it was actually a list of names. Most of them she never heard of but once in a while she heard the name of someone she had met in pureblood gathering.

Frowning, she got out of bed and walked towards the young man to wake him up. Madam Pomfrey must have not given him Dreamless Sleep potion if he was having such a troubled sleep.

The cold stone floor sent shivers down her spine as she took a few steps and raised her hand to shake him up.

She had barely grazed him with her fingers when he caught her hand with lightning fast reflexes and locked it with an iron grip.

Her eyes widened when she realised that the person responsible for her rude awakening was the one who saved her earlier today.

"Potter, she asked with surprise. What are you doing here ?"

He was draped in bed, his blanket covering his body almost entirely except for his arms.

He said nothing for a second then realising that she was Duncan's daughter he let go of her hand.

"What do you think, he grumbled. I just love spending my nights in hospital beds. Why did you wake me ?"

"You're the one who woke me up, she replied with a small amount of irritation. You were talking in your sleep. Loudly may I add."

He frowned for a second.

"Shit, he said without a care for decorum. Sorry about that."

Her eyes softened. She could not really be mad at him. He saved her after all. She still was not fond of him. He was just as stupid as the others for joining the War. But she was grateful nonetheless.

"It's alright, she said with a sigh. Also... I wanted to thank you. Back there you saved my life. As much as it pains me to admit it, I am in your debt."

"Don't mention it, he said with a small chuckle. I can't leave my friend's daughter to die, can I ?"

Deciding to change the subject, Daphne chose to ask him why he was in the Hospital Wing. He didn't seemed wounded last time she saw him.

"You'll learn more about it in the morning, but I can tell you this : Professor Quirell was suffering from a possession. He was forced to release the Trolls in the dungeon by the entity that possessed him. We went after him and we fought. I had to kill him but he injured me in the process."

She narrowed her eyes. There was lot going on in Hogwarts since the Soldiers came back. The Trolls and now this. And Potter was involved in both accident.

"How did you get hit, she asked. You were fighting ten Trolls at once and you never got so much as bruised and you were wounded by Quirell ?"

He seemed thoughtful for a second then replied.

"He used something I was not prepared to face, he said. A magic very powerful and something that probably no one should be able to use."

'Even me, he added in his head.'

"So you're in Slytherin, huh ? How is it ?"

"Why do you want to know, she asked frowning."

"Just curious, he said with a shrug. I wondered what the common room of your house looked like. Ours is Red and Gold with a lot of chairs and couches. Really comfy. I'm just curious if all the common rooms are the same with just different colors or are they all different."

"It's different, she finally said. We're in the dungeons so it's a bit cold. We have some comfortable chairs and couches too. It's a bit grim though, she added with an afterthought. There's skulls and the furnitures are all black. However we have the coolest view you could imagine."

"Really, he said sarcastically. What kind of view could you guys have underground ?"

She smirked. He didn't sound bigoted against her house. It was more like a playful banter. A true house rivalry.

"We are actually IN the Black Lake. We have those huge windows that allows us to see, like an aquarium if you want. I even saw the Giant Squid once."

Harry sat up, with widened eyes. He had forgotten the fact that he was topless. Something that Daphne noticed.

"You're kidding me ? A Giant Squid ? Like the Kraken ?"

He saw Daphne's eyes widen when she looked at his scarred body and immediatly pulled his blanket up.

"You... have a lot of scars..."

He sighed.

"That I do unfortunately. I'd like you to stay silent about that. I'm not comfortable with them."

She nodded.

"I owe you this much, she said with a serious face.

A few minutes went by in an uncomfortable silence until the young woman decided to change the subject to a more pleasant one.

"So who have the best view now ?"

"I'll admit you win on that point. But if you're common room have skulls all around it, I think Gryffindor wins on decoration. I'd really like to see it though."

"Dream on Potter, she said. No one is allowed in the common room except for Slytherins."

"And I don't have the password, he added."

"Well, if I was not hallucinating, you could blast the entrance open. What kind of spells did you use back then ?"

"My homeworld's magic. Well not exactly but a kind of magic that I learned in my homeworld."

"You're homeworld, she asked with surprise. What are you talking about ?"

"I was raised in Ulcide, he explained. The world where the War was fought. That's why I was missing. I was taken by Angels after Voldemort's presumed death and lived there until three days ago."

"Wow, she said with wide eyes. That's why no one could find you then. How is it ?"

"Ulcide ? Now there is not so much left of it to be honest, he said sadly. But before..."

He looked through the window with a sad smile.

"You should have seen it. It was filled with wonders and grace. Where do I even begin ? Well the first thing I remember are the forests. I lived in one for the best part of my childhood. The trees were immense. The tallest were as huge as the castle and as large as this very room ! All the colors seemed so vivid back then. The leaves so green you woud think someone had painted them until you saw them wither and die. Then there was the human cities. The first time I entered one i was ecstatic ! The walls were so big ! So many people coming and going..."

He kept talking about his earliest memories until the sun started to rise. Harry never told her about his childhood per say. It was mostly about the sceneries he saw. Neither had seen the time past. Harry was too busy reliving his fondest moments and Daphne too enthralled by the tale the young man was telling.

"It's sunrise already, he asked in surprise. Sorry I've been keeping you awake all this time..."

"Don't be, she replied in all honesty. I haven't realised either. It seemed like a wonderful place..."

"It was, he said sadly. I'll always remember it as the place I grew up rather than the place it is now."

"You know, I've always blamed my father for leaving us alone for all this time. I thought that people going to fight a war that was not theirs were idiots. I'm still mad at him, but in another hand he did what was right, you know. It's hard to explain..."

"Not really, he said. You were worried about your father dying but in the same time you understand that the Demons would have been a threat in the future anyway. I get that. It doesn't make you a bad person. You cared about your dad more than about strangers. It makes you a good daughter."

"You're the last person I would expect to understand, she said. I mean it was your world."

"Yes it was. And I'll never forget the people who gave their life to save all of us from our doom."

They watched the sunrise in silence for a couple of minutes. Daphne's mind was racing to comprehend everything she learned that night. The young man in front of her had been completely different than the one she thought he would be.

"When you were talking in your sleep, she began. You were listing names. Were those..."

"Yes, he said grimly. I've been trying to remember everyone that died. It's a lost cause. There were so many. Millions of people died and I only have a thousand names at most. I've written all of those i can remember but... It feels wrong you know ? That people who gave their lives for their families and their future will never be remembered for their bravery. There's a fine line between courage and foolishness, and I've seen a lot of foolishness in my life. However, no matter what their reason to fight was, the fact that they did fight is enough for me to honor their memories."

"Did Madam Pomfrey not gave you Dreamless Sleep potion ?"

"She did but, my body heals faster than normal. As in way faster. Poisons are not really effective on me as they would be purged quickly but unfortunately, it's the same for medicines and others drugs with long lasting effects."

"Why are you telling me all of this exactly, she asked. We don't really know each other and I could use these informations against you later."

"Well you owe me a life debt to begin with, he replied after a moment. So I trust you won't tell anyone unless I agree. It might be a bad decision but as the sayig goes "Innocent until proven guilty", right ? But in the end... I don't really know. I felt comfortable telling you and you may have needed a distraction from the experience you had. Thanks for listening by the way. It felt good to remember."

"You're welcome Potter, she said with a genuine smile. It was really interesting."

"Harry, he replied. You can call me Harry. "

"Fine, Harry."

A tired looking Madam Pomfrey entered the Hospital Wing. She was surprised to see her two patients up and talking happily. They greeted her politely and soon Harry was released from the Hospital Wing.

"Merlin, the nurse said. You really were telling the truth about your healing factor. I guess you're free to go."

"Thank you Madam Pomfrey, he said as he put his clothes on."

The nurse had cleaned them with a spell last evening. It would not be appropriate to walk around with bloodied clothes after all.

"Guess I'll see you around Daphne."

"I never allowed you to call me by my first name, she said cheekily."

"Well I'm technically ten years your senior so I don't really care, he replied equally as cheekily."

"What do you mean ten years, asked the matron and the young woman at the same time."

"Ask Dun- Lord Greengrass when he visits later. I gotta run. Bye !"

And run he did.

After his morning training, Harry went to his dorm for a shower. When he got out his dormmate were waking up.

"Hey guys, he greeted them."

"Hey." "Hi, mate." "Good morning."

"Where were you last night, asked Ron. You ran out of the Great Hall with Professor Dumbledore and we never saw you afterward."

"A lot happenned. The Headmaster will tell you about it during breakfast."

"What happenned with the Trolls, asked Neville."

"We killed them. It's safe now."

Harry made his way to the Great Hall to eat. He was pretty hungry now. He forgot the fact that he had not eaten anything since yesterday's lunch and his stomach was grumbling.

The Great Hall was almost empty at this time of the day. Only Albus, a few Professors and early birds were up and running.

The young man nodded to Albus and the Professors and sat down at the Gryffindor table.

He ate his breakfast in silence. Only the clatter of the cutlery could be heard in the Great Hall.

Harry ate with gusto, savouring the eggs and bacon as they went down his throat. He kept refilling his plate and as the time went by more and more students and Professors joined the Hall.

When every staff member was here and as much students as possible, Albus and Harry shared a nod. The old Headmaster got up and pointed his wand to his throat.

"I have an announcement to make, he stated with a magically amplified voice. As you know yesterday, a tragedy have been avoided. Thanks to the intervention of Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and Mr Potter, we were able to eliminate the Trolls in the dungeons."

The student clapped and cheered for the brave Proffessors and fellow student. Harry blushed furiously and drank his glass of water. The Headmaster paused and waited for the silence to come back.

"However, another tragedy occured later in the evening. I am deeply saddened to inform you of the death of Professor Quirell. Professor Quirell was apparently enthralled by a dark artifact that was slowly leading him to insanity. Let it be a testament of his willpower that he resisted such a dark curse for this long. Unfortunately, last night was the last straw for our brave DADA Professor and he attacked us. We defended ourselves and ended up killing him in process. I would like us to observe a minute of silence in memory of a brave man who resisted until the end against a powerful enemy within himself."

Everyone stood still for a minute but all were deep in thoughts. A Professor killed because of dark magic ? At Hogwarts ?

"I have contacted the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and they are currently investigating the case. It is possible that some of you may be interrogated. Don't worry, none of your are suspects, it is just to inquire about Professor Quirell's former behaviour. Until we can find another teacher, I will personally teach Defense Against the Dark Arts."

This information was welcomed by enthusiasm. Well, as much enthusiasm a crowd can feel after the announcement of their teacher's death.

"That is all. Feel free to talk to any of the staff if you feel like you need someone to talk to after this dramatic news."

Harry was assaulted by students who wanted him to tell them what happened in details. He told them that he wasn't supposed to talk about it with the investigation still going on. It was a blatant lie as he wasn't even aware of the said investigation until a minute ago. He assumed that he would be interrogated as he was the one responsible for Quirell's death.

He sighed for what seemed to be the thousandth time today.

Harry was sitting in Dumbledore's office. He sipped at his glass of Firewhiskey absentmindedly.

Albus told him to wait for someone else to come and join them for this meeting and they did.

To Harry's surprise, Severus Snape entered the room.

"Headmaster, Mr Potter."

His tone was more respectful. It looked like Harry's show yesterday had made a lasting impression on the Potion Master.

"Professor Snape, replied Harry politely."

"Severus, said the headmaster with a smile. Come in and sit down."

He gestured to the seat next to Harry. The Head of House Slytherin narrowed his eyes but did as ordered by his boss.

"What is the meaning of this meeting Headmaster, asked the Potion Professor."

"I wanted to go back to what happened yesterday evening during the previous meeting. Your comportement was inappropriate, both of you."

Snape gritted his teeth, waiting for a snarky remark from the Potter Boy. He was sure that the arrogant brat would take the chance to mock him, and brag about the fact that the Headmaster had reprimanded the unpopular Professor in front of him.

"You are right Alb- Professor, replied Harry. His head was a bit lowered in shame. I sincerely apologise about the way I lost my temper back then, Professor Snape."

To say that Snape was surprised was the understatement of the year. He was convinced that Potter would have been unwilling to admit his fault. Apparently he was wrong. Or maybe it was a ploy to trick him and the Headmaster... But his apology felt sincere. If he could use Legilimency against him...

"I would advice agaisnt trying Legilimency on Harry, Severus, said the Headmaster as if he had read his thought. His barriers are... way too powerful."

"How can he have such a level of Occlumency so young, asked Snape with incredulity. It took me years of training to be able to resist your Mind Probes."

"Let's just say that I had a "blessing". A gift from the Angels that took me away. The same Angels you insulted yesterday."

It explained a lot. But now Severus was more interested in what kind of protection the boy in front of him had than the sincerity of his apology.

"Severus, I believe you owe Mr Potter an apology too, said the Headmaster."

"I guess, drawled Snape. I apologise for insulting you yesterday."

"I don't care what you think of me, replied Harry shaking his head. You can insult me as much as you want in your mind or when I'm not in front of you. Hell, I can even accept some sort of hostility from you as long as you don't cross a line. But I will not stand by when you sully the memory of those I loved. Ved'hel was more than a mentor, he was a father figure to me. Dusk is like a big brother. And Dawn was... a lot more. So don't apologise to me."

It was like a light bulb lit up in Snape's mind. The way the boy reacted in the staff room was the same way Severus reacted after Lily died and someone mentioned her name. He remember the way he beat up a partisan of the pureblood agenda. He lost it when the fucker started to pronounce mudblood, refering to his childhood friend and love interest's blood status.

The first few months after Lily's death, Severus spent his days drinking himself to oblivion and blaming himself for his stupidity, wallowing in self pity and guilt.

Only when Albus showed himself on his doorstep and offered him a chance to repay his debt did he pulled himself together. Somewhat.

"I see... I can understand that then. I apologise for disrespecting them. It was inappropriate, as the Headmaster said."

The fact that he had to genuinely apologise to the spawn of James Potter made him sick. But if he was totally honest with himself, it felt right. He didn't knew the boy and he would wait and see. He could have taken more of his mother than his father after all.

"Thank you. Am I free to go now, or do you have something else you needed to tell me, Albus ?"

"One last thing actually. The Aurors are going to interrogate you. I recommend you to give them a copy of your memory rather than taking a dose of Veritaserum. I trust that none of them would ask questions that are not related to the case as it is a high profile one, but you never know. However, if it is Amelia Bones, the Head of the DMLE, I would recommend you to suggest taking Veritaserum. The old Headmaster switched to Ulcidian. _She is trustworthy and she could help us in the matter of the "Prisonner of Azkaban", if you catch my drift_."

Snape could not understand what Dumbledore just said but he understood Azkaban. Whatever the language, proper noun don't change after all.

"Sounds good to me, replied the young man."

"You are both free to go now."

As they walked past the gargoyle, Harry looked around him and seeing no one, turned to Snape.

"Could you cast some privacy charms ?"

Eyeing him warily, Snape nodded and waved his wand. The familiar bubble of magic covered the area they were standing on.

"I know you are the one who told Voldemort about the prophecy."

Severus' eyes widened. It couldn't be. He swore to take this secret to the grave. No one should know except for him and... Of course the Headmaster would have told him.

"And know that I forgave you a while ago. At first I wanted to rip you to shreds. And deep down, I still want. But in the end, we all make mistakes. Yours were just bigger than most."

"You're not going to scream and start hexing me, replied sarcasticaly the Potion Master."

Harry's eyes narrowed.

"Careful Professor, he said stressing the man's title on purpose. I forgave you for your past mistakes, but you're on thin fucking ice. I may not have a clear conscience, feel guilty about it but it doesnt change the fact that I've killed. I've killed hundreds of people, and thousands of monsters. Most of them, way more powerful than you are. You are valuable. I know of your "task". But you're not irreplaceable. So now we've got two options. Either we continue to fight uselessly and I will eventually snap. Or we cooperate together. So what do you say, he asked. Associates ?"

He extended his arms and looked straight at the Professor.

"Can I make sure your level of Occlumency is satisfactory first, asked a surprislingly tame Snape."

Harry nodded. Snape brought his wand up and cast the Legilimency spell.

Severus found himself in a pitch black space. He snorted when he thought that Potter considered simple darkness as a viable barrier. But suddenly a bright light erupted and he had to cover his eyes.

The scenery had totally changed. He was standing in the middle of a lush valley, between moutains, huge forest and rivers running all around him. It was without the shadow of a doubt, the most beautiful place he had ever seen. The nature around him seemed both calm and vibrating with life.

His contemplation was brought to an end when someone came out of the nearest forest. The figure had dark skin, dark blonde hair, almost orange, and bright red eyes. The man was covered in a magnificient white armour, complete with shoulder pads and a cape. Even his boots were shining. And of course, a pair of white feathery wings.

Snape was in awe in front of the Angel that glided graciously towards him. His entire being seemed to radiate with power.

"You are not welcome here, said the Angel in a cristal clear voice that send shivers down Snape's spine. It was incredibly frightening but in the same time, so beautiful. Go back where you came from."

Snape had seen an Angel back when they came to ask the wizarding world to fight. This Angel's grace and power though, would have put the messenger he saw back then to shame.

Swallowing heavily, Snape managed to find his voice and formulate a reply.

"I am sorry, he replied with difficulty. I am just checking his Occlumency."

"Well you saw, replied the Angel neutraly. His barriers are the best on this Earth of yours and were already the best on Ulcide. I'll send you back now."

The Angel raised his hand and a white runic circle appeared in front of him. The Potion Master barely had the time to cover his eyes once again before he was thrown out of Harry's mind. Rather violently.

He put a hand on his head, shaking away the headache that came in hand with a failed Legilimency attempt. He saw Potter leaning towards him, his hand extended. He accepted it and was raised to his feet by the muscular young man in front of him.

"You've met Dusk then. Don't worry he seems like a jerk but deep down he's a good guy. What am I talking about, he's an Angel, of course he is."

The green eyed man cleared his throat, to stop himself from rambling.

"Is it satisfactory, Professor ?"

"Yes, replied numbly Snape. Yes it is."

"So let me reiterate my offer, said the young man as he extended his hand once more. Associates ?"

Snape shook his hand numbly.

"Not enemies for now, replied the Professor, as he regained some of his usual persona."

"Good enough. I will see you in class this afternoon. Have a good day until then."

And just like that he smiled and walked away with a spring to his steps.

Snape was in shock with what just happened. He had suffered the Dark Lord wrath numerous times, endured his Crucios, and had led a dangerous life. But never had he felt such fear. In any other situation, he would have put the boy in his place, and rejected his offer. However he saw first hand the capacities of the young man, and apparently, it was only a fraction of his power. And it terrified him.

He was still processing what just happened when Harry came back, almost runing and went back in the Headmaster's office.

He came back a few moments later with a piece of parchment.

"I forgot to ask for a note, he said waving the parchment to prove his point. I'm already late for History of Magic."

And he ran back towards Gryffindor Tower to get his stuff.

History of Magic was a huge disappointment. Harry knew from Albus that the ghost Professor Binns was "a bit dull" but he used to be excited nonetheless. He had a whole world to discover and History was a part of it. Unfortunately, "dull" was a bit of an understatement. Half of the students were outright sleeping, while the others were doing something else entirely.

Once the initial thrill about seeing a ghost for the first time was over, Harry pondered about the vicious circle Albus told him about this subject.

Even during his lifetime Professor Binns was boring. But it got worse once he died. Now almost no one wanted to pursue a career including History of Magic, as they were all reminded of the sleep-inducing lessons. That particular phenomenon lead to a depletion of qualified teachers and none of them wanted to teach to begin with when they could do something more lucrative, such as private researchers, or working with teams of Curse Breakers from Gringotts.

Harry went for a walk around the castle to clear his mind. So much happened since he joined Hogwarts. He was smoking a cigarette, minding his own business when a strange creature approached him.

A skeletal horse, with the face of a reptile and large bat-like wings was trotting towards him. Harry stopped and banished his smoke. He was curious. Wary, but curious.

When he realised that the creature was not attacking him, Harry took a step forward and stopped. Checking the beast's reaction, Harry held his hand patted the neck of the creature and it thrilled in pleasure.

Harry smiled warmly. Actually, if anyone in Hogwarts had seen him right now, they would have realised that never since he arrived did Harry look so happy.

He kept petting the strange being in front of him for a while until he heard the sounds of heavy footsteps coming from his right.

He looked up and saw a huge man, with long shaggy black hair and a beard covering half of his face. He reminded Harry of the Dwarves, if Dwarves were twice as tall as him.

"Sorry, said the man. She slipped out of the pen."

The man stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Harry with wide eyes.

"Harry, asked the giant. I'm so glad to finally see you."

The man took Harry in a crushing hug and spent the next five minute crying and sporadically talking how he had his mother's eyes and how he looked like his father with a more sturdier build.

"It's okay, soothed Harry. I'm here now. You're Hagrid, right ?"

Hagrid wiped a tear of his cheek and nodded.

"Albus told me about you. I'm sorry if I made you worry but I could'nt help it."

"It's alright, replied the half-giant. You're here now as you said."

The horse-like creature decided to come closer, apparantly jealous of the demonstration of happiness. The creature nuzzled Harry who laughed.

"What is she exactly, asked Harry as he petted the affectionate beast. I've never seen something like that."

"She's a Thestral, replied Hagrid. Only those who have seen death can see them. It gave them a bad reputation but they're kind magical creatures."

It pained Hagrid to know that the little boy he once carried in his arms had grown up in a fine young man. A young man able of see Thestrals.

"I can see that, laughed Harry as the Thestral kept rubbing his face with it strange head. What's her name ?"

"She don't have one, said Hagrid. I never thought about naming them. What do you think ?"

"Hmmm... Klerah ? I always liked the name back then. It was fairly popular in Ulcide."

"Klerah it is then !"

Hagrid was about to ask Harry about Ulcide when they saw a group of Aurors coming their way. The young Soldier smiled brightly when he saw who was leading them.

"Kinglsey, called Harry. How are you ?"

Kingsley Shacklebolt was tall black man without a single hair on his head. He too smiled broadly when he saw Harry. It was not everyday that you saw the mighty Demonsbane getting nuzzled to death by a Thestral.

"Hello Mr Potter, he said formally. I am here to escort you to be interrogated about the event of yesterday evening."

Understanding the situation Harry nodded seriously and with a last pat on the head he left Klerah and Hagrid with a wave.

Harry was sitting in a unused classroom in the castle. It was compeltely bare unless for two chairs, a table and a Pensieve. In front of him stood three Aurors including Kingsley and The Head of the DMLE Amelia Bones. Madam Bones was a square jawed witch with close cropped hair and a monocle. She had a no-nonsense expression, not unlike the one McGonagall wore usually.

She was actually listening intensely to the report Harry Potter was giving her of the event that transpired yesterday.

"So I picked the body of Professor Quirell and left the room. Afterward I enthrusted Albus with the body and attended the staff meeting."

"Professor Quirell body's is currently being autopsied by our employees. I have to say Mr Potter, you're story is a bit hard to believe..."

She was baiting him into revealing more informations. She could not detect any sign of dishonesty during his retelling of the event. So he was either telling the truth or was the best liar she had ever seen.

"I am willing to give you a copy of my memory and take a dose of Veritaserum as long as you swear to keep your questions focused on the investigation."

Amelia raised an eyebrow. It was unusual for a suspect to willingly suggest those things unless he was conviced of his innocence.

"Very well, your willingness to cooperate will be noted on the report. Kingsley, bring me a vial of unsealed Veritaserum and a empty vial for the copy of Mr Potter's memory."

The bald man nodded and obliged. He came back with the required items.

"Which one do you want to use first, asked Madam Bones."

"I'd recommend to view the memory first and ask me the questions afterward, replied Harry. I assure you, you will have a lot of questions."

Amelia narrowed her eyes. The young man in front of her was an enigma. What was his purpose to be so cooperative ?

"Fine, give me the memory then."

"Do you want the whole thing or just the part where I confront Professor Quirell ?"

"I will take them both back to the headquarter and watch the whole events once I am back there. Just let me watch the part where you leave the Hospital Wing until the moment you get out with the body."

Harry nodded and focused on the memory before he pulled it from his temple.

Amelia checked if the memory was tempered but she saw no golden tinge on the memory, signfying that it was genuine.

He put the memory in the Pensieve next to him and stepped back to allow the serious woman to dive in.

"You're coming with me, she said. At least while you're in the memory with me, you can't try anything in the real world."

Harry nodded again. It made sense. He could try to kill her and be done with it before the Aurors could move.

They both dipped their head in the basin at the same time. Amelia watched in silence the memory unfold before her. She kept every question for later as Harry will be taking Veritaserum and would not be able to lie.

It turned out to be a good idea. They got out of the Pensieve and stared at each other for a minute.

"You might want to sit down, said the young man. It's going to take some time to explain everything."

 **AN : Hi guys how are you ? As I said at the beginning, this Author Note will be longer than usual.**

 **I wanted to post this chapter sooner but my best friend spent a couple of days at my place and we ended up playing Dark Souls 3 and getting drunk like it was a fucking thing to do for two days straight. Sorry about that.**

 **Now the real reason for this AN. First a huge thanks to plums, storybook thumb, keyblademeister88, aSinglePancake, Cirian and Otspock for their review and to everyone who favorited and/or followed this story. You're the best !**

 **Some of you pointed out that I could improve my grammar and that I should try to find beta and you are right. I try as hard as I can but in the end I'm still struggling to write proper sentences x) I'll do my best to work on that but I will probably ask someone for help. So if any of you are interested be sure to let me know.**

 **Moving on, Otspock pointed out a mistake that i made with my story. In my story Hogwarts start at 16 years old. The reason for that is that I don't want to write a story about children. Consider Hogwarts as a Magical College. The thing is, Percy Weasly is four years older than Harry anyway, so if Harry is 18 years old, Percy should be 22 years old. My bad, I should have seen it. Same for Hermione who's birthday is in September so she's 19 years old. As for Daphne, all we know about her birthday is that it's "** **Between 1 September 1979 and 31 August1980" according to the wikia. I don't know if you'll see this Otspock but thank you nonetheless buddy.**

 **This chapter was quite hard to write. I started over three times before I was satisfied with it. plums stated that Albus would not let Snape be his usual dick in this story and he's right. I don't hate Snape as a character but I definitely don't like him either. He's bitter, biased and unfair. He's a survivor though. He survived his abusive childhood thank to his friendship with Lily, the bullying of the Marauder and the First War. And now he's conflicted because Harry is the son of James and Lily but also immensely powerful and he know he can't antagonize him. I wanted to portray that and your reviews will let me know if I did a good job with that but i tried to make you guys understand that he's not stupid, just bitter and guilt-ridden by his mistakes.**

 **As for Hagrid, I know that he's supposed to have an accent of some sort but I'm clearly not good enough to write his dialogues with it. In the French translations of the books Hagrid don't have an accent which makes it even more difficult for me !**

 **Another thing I wanted to say about the story. It's not going to be SLASH or HAREM. I don't know how a homosexual relationship works and when I imagined my story I never envisioned it as a SLASH story. Don't try to change my mind, it's my story and as much as I appreciate inputs, I won't appreciate people trying to make me write something else. Same thing for HAREM. I don't dislike HAREM fics but I'm not a fan either. It feels wrong to me. It's the way I was raised. I can't imagine sharing the person you love with someone else in a romantic kind of way. To each their own.**

 **Don't read to much into it. I have nothing against homosexuals. I'm just not attracted by men. That's it.**

 **That's it for today. _A plus tard_ !**


	7. Chapter Six : Wish I Could Turn Back

**DISCLAIMER : I don't own Harry Potter.**

 **Chapter Six : Wish I Could Turn Back Time**

Harry had been talking for fifteen minutes straight now and his throat started to get sore.

He started by explaining to Madam Bones how Voldemort stayed somewhat alive all this time. He didn't go into details as she didn't ask but he told her that he used a demonic ritual to split his soul, preventing him to die. He then told her about War Magic and the reason why he was so shocked to witness Voldemort use it, especially using Quirell's body. According to him, the moment Voldemort took full control of the Professor's body and used War Magic, Quirell was destined to die as his body was not trained to use such power.

"He never learned any Domain and all of a sudden his body was used to cast War Magic. The poor man would have died of the backlash."

"Is it possible for us to learn Domain, even if we are not born in Ulcide, asked the Head of the DMLE."

"It is possible for wizards to learn a Domain, but not the other way around. As I told you it's all about balance and only the fact that I am born as a wizard in this world allows me to use wand-magic. Ulcidians wouldn't have been able to. I remember Sirius desperatly trying to remember the first spell of the Healing Domain. It was hilarious."

Amelia's eyes widened when she heard the name. Sirius Black had disapeared from his cell to join the War. Trying to hide the fact that THE Sirius Black had vanished had been a tough thing to do but they managed. For now.

"Is Black alive ? Where is he ?"

"Hold on Ma'am. Yes he's alive, but I don't know where he is. He knew you would try to throw him back in prison the day he returned so he asked the Angels to drop him somewhere else. I don't know where. That's understandable. After all, what kind of innocent man would want to spend the rest of his days rotting in Azkaban, right ?"

It all made sense now for Amelia. Why Potter was so forthcoming, so cooperative. He did have an agenda. He wanted her to ask about Sirius Black so he could tell her that.

"How do you know for sure that he is innocent ? Everyone knows that he is the one responsible of the death of your parents !"

Harry shook his head. He knew from Albus that Veritaserum prevent you from lying. It doesn't mean that what one says is the truth. Just what he think is the truth.

"You never thought it was weird how no other Death Eater or criminal in Azkaban was asked to join the War ? I'm not talking about petty thieves or people like that. I'm talking about the monsters rotting next to the Dementors. That's because the Angels never contacted them. We needed people we could trust, people we knew for sure that would not stab us in the back to join the enemy. Sirius is innocent and even worse, was thrown in jail for the rest of his life without a trial. If you don't believe me, check the archives and you will realise that there is nothing but the certificate of his imprisonement. No one bothered to judge him."

Silence followed his statement. All of them were deep in thoughts except for Kingsley who already knew about Sirius' innocence. He fought side by side with him many times after all.

A couple of minutes went by and Harry started to feel the potion clouding his mind to wear off already.

"I think you might want to give me more Truth Potion, it's already wearing off."

"Impossible, asked the Auror behind Kinglsey. It's barely been twenty minutes and a dose of Veritaserum last at least one hour."

"My body is naturally more resistant to every drug or substance I ingest. I heal faster, purge poisons quicker and unfortunately, meds tends to be almost useless."

"He says the truth, added Kingsley. I saw him take a spear in the back and the morning after he was as good as new."

"The defence of Karhvallum, right ? I'm glad the Deathclaw missed you that day."

"It was a close one but i'm still here, replied the bald man with a smirk."

"I hate to disturb such an interesting discussion, cut in Amelia. But we are currently in the middle of an investigation, Auror Shacklebolt."

"Yes Ma'am, Sorry Ma'am. It won't happen again."

Harry snickered at the scolding.

"Don't laugh yet Mr. Potter, said Amelia with a frown. We're going to be here for a long time."

His smile vanished and he sighed. What is it with witches and bad tempers ?

When Amelia released him, it was almost sunset. The rays were reflecting on the lake and the view from the Gryffindor Tower was breathtaking. Not as beautiful as one could see in Ulcide before the War, but still magnificent. He remembered the argument he had this morning with Daphne about which common room had the best view and he was becoming more and more interested to see it from a different perpective.

To be honest, he was really jealous. He spent two years on the seas, sailing from one country to another but to his shame, never learned how to swim. People didn't know how to, even sailors. Only capable Water Mage could survive more than a minute in water. He made a mental note to ask someone to teach him how to swim better than a rock one day.

He saw a large tentacle breaking the water line and stood still. It was the famous Giant Squid. He learned that he was harmless from Hermione during History of Magic. However, he could not shake the memory of his last journey as a sailor, who was brutaly interrupted by the attack of the Kraken.

He was so much weaker back then, so powerless. He knew War Magic, but was still a beginner at the time. The reason why he became so powerful now is because of the War. His Domain feed on death and battles. The more he fought, the stronger he became. A fellow Soldier compared it to an EXP system in a AIR-PEE-GEE, whatever that was.

In the end, he was too weak, and his fellow crewmembers died on that boat. The gigantic tentacles and countless rows of teeth of the Kraken were wreaking havoc on the ship. Only he survived thanks to pure dumb luck. He got knocked out by a piece of the mast and fell down on a piece of wreckage on the water.

When he came back to his senses, he was drifting away, surrounded by corpses and parts of the boat. It took him two days to reach the nearest piece of land.

He saw someone approaching him on his left and turned to see Hermione, Ron and Neville coming his way.

"Hey guys, he greeted them."

"Hello Harry, replied Hermione. You were not here in class this afternoon."

"I know, he said with a smile. I've been busy with the interrogation. They let me go half an hour ago."

"Oh I see. Well, here are the homeworks for the next Potion class on Friday and this is for Charms."

"Thanks, he said as he took a look at the assignements. I'm sorry to bother you but could you guys help me with what Professor McGonagall told us to do ? I know we're supposed to hand it over tomorrow and that I should have started earlier but with everything that happened..."

"Sure mate, said Ron with a smile. Come on, I got to do it too."

"I told you, said Neville. You should have started ealier. Now you can't go fly this evening."

Hermione nodded heartily.

"I'm not the only one, replied Ron. Harry haven't started it yet too !"

"I have an excuse, replied the green eyed young man. It's hard to do homeworks when you're fighting Trolls and a possessed teacher."

"Fair enough, sighed the red-head. Let's go, I want to get it done by the time we go to dinner."

"I'm afraid it will take longer than that, said Hermione. If you work hard, you may be done by curfew."

"Fuck, replied Harry and Ron at the same time."

The four Gryffindor were in the library, sitting with a scowl on their face. Well two of them had a scowl on their face. Hermione and Neville were smiling at each others.

"Argh, grumbled Harry. I just don't get it ! Why is it possible to multiply food but impossible to create it ! It's absurd."

"It's because it's one of Principal Exception of Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. You just can't, replied Hermione."

"I know that, replied the young warrior. But why ? If you multiply it, you create something out of thin air too ! You use magic to create a copy of something, when a second ago, it wasn't there ! So if you can copy something, or summon it from somewhere, why can't you create it. It's food ! I mean look at it this way. You can summon food from your storage, right ? But why is it that you can't summon food from another person's stomach ? Why does the process of eating something makes it impossible to summon it ? Or even more infuriating, water ! Food and water are both essential to life and yet, you can use the Aguamenti charm to create drinkable water out of thin air, but it's not possible to Transfigure a chair into a fucking sandwich !"

Harry had spent an entire hour trying to get his head around it, but it didn't made any sense for him.

"You know, replied Neville with a thoughtful look. I don't know either. We never really questionned it. It simply was not possible. But now that you're talking about it, it's weird that you can conjure water but not food..."

"Maybe because it's a living being, tried Hermione. Save from few exception, what you eat is a dead living organism. Vegetables and Fruits are from plants and meat from animals. So maybe you can't-"

She stopped when she saw Harry shake his head.

"Not possible, said the raven haired teen. I saw wizards turn corpses into rocks in order to prevent the spreading of diseases on the battlefield and McGonagall turned her desk into a pig to demonstrate what you can accomplish with Transfiguration in her first class. It makes even less sense. You can't conjure food, but can Transfigure a corpse into a rock and a chair into a pig. I mean all you have to do, is kill the pig and cook it. In the end you have roasted porkchop, so why is there no spell to conjure a porkchop directly ?"

"You'll have to ask Professor McGonagall about that, said Hermione a bit dejectedly. The more I learn about magic, the more I understand that I know next to nothing."

"There is a lot of things like that in life, said Harry. You think you've figured out something and Fate decide to be cruel and takes away your certitudes in the blink of an eye."

"Don't worry 'Mione, said Ron softly. You're brilliant, there's nothing you can't understand."

Hermione blushed at the use of her nickname and the demonstration of affection.

"Except for you obsession with Quidditch, she said cheekily."

"Yeah, except for that, conceded Ron wit h a laugh."

They went back to work for a brief moment before they were interrupted again.

"Good evening, said a voice Harry recognised. Can I sit here ?"

Harry turned and smiled at Daphne. She was holding a book, a piece of parchment and writing tools.

"Sure, go on, replied Harry without a second of hesitation."

"Hum, Harry, said Ron visibly not comfortable with the idea of a Slytherin sitting at his table. Are you sure... She's a Slytherin and you know..."

Daphne bit her lips in frustration. Of course it would happen. Harry was not biased against Slytherins, but the same could not be said about the rest of the House of Lions. She had been a fool to think otherwise...

"What's wrong with that, said Harry as he narrowed his eyes."

"Well, said Neville shyly. Gryffindors and Slytherins don't see each others eye to eye, you know...

"They have the reputation that they can't be trusted and that most of them are Dark Wizards-"

"Stop right there, interrupted Harry as he lifted a hand."

His aura was a bit intimidating now. Not nearly at the same level as in the staff meeting when he frightened Snape into submission, but scary nonetheless.

"I know her, she's the daughter of one of my best friends, who is a former Slytherin by the way, and I trust her. If you don't want to share the table with her, we'll find somewhere else to sit."

The three Lions looked a bit ashamed by the scolding. It was impressive how Harry, the kind and apparently harmless young man could turn into a frightening and deadly warrior. It was almost as if he had two personalities.

"No... It's okay, said Hermione without looking at Daphne in the eyes. Feel free to join in."

The blond haired Ice Queen sat down next to Harry and nodded to him in thanks. She wore a small smile as well. It was nice to finally be able to show a bit of emotions now that her father had returned. She'll never be her old cheerful self again, but it was still an improvement. However, that smile disapeared quickly when she remembered why she wanted to speak with the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Tell me Potter, said the newcomer. Why did you or my father, for that matter, never mentioned the minor issue about the time in the War before ?"

"Back to Potter now, asked Harry in an attempt to lighten the mood."

He knew it was destined to be known sooner rather than later, but he had hoped to have a bit more time to deal with the repercussions.

"Don't change the subject, replied Daphne. You were gone TEN years ! When were you thinking of bringing that up ! It was already hard enough to wait for one year, but now you come back and we learn that you guys were actually ten times more susceptible to die !"

She was starting to get riled up the more she spoke. It was unlike her to lose her temper like that, but when her father had been coerced to told her and her mother, all of her fears resurfaced at once.

"Quiet, called the voice of Madam Pince the librarian."

"What is she talking about mate, asked Ron, his distate for the Slytherin forgotten."

"What I mean, replied Daphne in a lower voice, is that the Soldiers were gone for a year in our world but during the War, ten years went by and they didn't aged."

"It was the Angels' work, replied Harry with irritation. Would you have preferred us to be gone for ten years here too ?"

"I would have preferred that no one went to fight a war in another world, period."

Harry took a deep breath and pinched his nose. He was getting irritated and that was not a good thing.

"Not here, he finally said. I don't want to be kicked out of the library on my second day."

"Can we come too, asked Hermione. If you don't want-"

"No it's alright, replied the raven haired teen. It's bound to be public information one day."

They picked up their stuffs and went in the courtyard. It was cold outside as expected in November in Scotland.

Harry leaned against a wall and lit a cigarette.

"You smoke, asked Neville."

"How did you find out, replied Harry sarcastically."

"How long have you been ruining your health with that, asked Hermione with her scarf around her nose."

"Since the second year of the War. After the death of Garrett, a friend of mine. Another person you'll never meet but still gave his life so my world and yours would be saved from the Demons."

His tone was cold. Even colder than the air around them. It was so different to the usual kind and warm voice he use to talk with normally.

"When were you planning to tell us about this whole time-travelling thing, asked Daphne with her arm crossed in front of her chest."

To be honest, she was not as confident as she sounded to be. Harry was a bit intimidating now.

"When we were ready, replied the Soldier with a puff of smoke. When we were finally able to sleep without nightmares, or when our last wounds would be healed. Did you know that some of us still haven't left your Magical Hospital ? St Mungo I think it's called."

Daphne nodded. Her mother had told her that Magical Hospitals around the world were crowded with wounded Soldiers, still recovering from their ordeal. During her last night shift, Annabelle had to use a lot of Dreamless Sleep potion, in order to allow the poor men and women to sleep without waking up the entire ward with their screams.

It made the four young adults a bit ashamed of their questions. But they wanted answers. Ron's brothers came back but never told anyone about what happened. Hermione too was worried as she loved the Weasleys. As for Neville, his Uncle Algie never came back from the War.

"But why keep it a secret from us, asked the Slytherin. We deserve to know what happened, don't we ?"

"Oh, you deserve to know, replied the green eyed Gryffindor sarcastically. And we don't deserve to mourn first ? We don't deserve don't bury what's left of our loved ones and grieve before you assault us with questions ? We have been fighting for TEN fucking years and you can't leave us in peace for more than three days !"

"That's not what we mean mate, tried to calm Ron."

"So what do you mean, shouted back Harry."

The four students flinched under his anger. Yep. Kind and gentle Harry had taken some vacations.

"I thought you had understood Daphne. I thought you understood what was at stake. If the situation was reversed, I know that at least half of us Ulcidians would have rushed to your help. Would you call us idiots if we came to save you from them ? You said you deserves answers, and yet you keep telling me that it was not your business in the first place !"

Harry ran his finger down his hair. He was starting to lose his temper again. He already did yesterday with Professor Snape and could not allow himself to do it again.

He was trying to get his emotions under control when he heard the blond haired beauty ask him something that completely threw him off balance.

"What happened to you ?"

The simplicity of the question hid the complexity of the answer. What did not happen to him would be easier to answer. His inner turmoil had not prepared him for such a candid inquiry.

Harry finished his cigarette absentmindedly. He laughed nervously as he collapsed on the floor, still leaning on the wall.

He stood there, without moving a finger. It pained the four students greatly to see him in this state. Daphne saw him as a fearless and confident warrior, the invincible fighter who saved her back in the dungeons and yet, in front of her the same person was looking completely broken.

She remembered how he comforted her with his memories of his home in the nursery, how he tried to make her forget the fact that she was almost killed a few hours before, when he himself had to kill another man so soon after the end of a ten years long war... She exchanged a look with her year mates and sat down next to him.

The three Gryffindor looked at each others and did the same, disregarding the fact the the stone floor was freezing cold.

The gesture touched Harry greatly. He had yelled at them for their annoying but righteous questions and they still decided to make him feel better in the end.

Ron had Hermione in his arms, trying to protect her from the cold.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's alright you know, said Daphne softly. But maybe it will make you feel better..."

The others nodded in silent agreement.

A few minutes went by in silence until Harry finally found the strength to voice his feelings.

"I... My friends... When it started, I was convinced that we would win. We simply had to, you know ? I was so convinced that it would end quickly, and that we would go back to the way it was before it began. I kept telling myself that it would be the same once we won. It never crossed my mind that I would lose even one of my friends. Life was definitely not easy but it was good. I traveled across the world and met wonderful people, saw beautiful lands... I was ten when I left my home in the Eternal Forest. My best friend came with me until he met his mate and had to go back as she was pregnant..."

"Hold on, interrupted Neville. You're best friend had children at ten ?"

"Let me explain, said Harry with a smile. I met him when I was six. My father had sent me to pick up some herbs in the forest for his tea and I came back with a baby Warg. He was not happy."

"What is a Warg, asked Hermione."

"The best way to describe it would be a big wolf really, explained Harry. Even when he was a cub, he was bigger than a normal dog. He had lost his mother, and was the only left from his litter. They are very territorial and when his parents found an Iron Bear in their territory they attacked it. But the delivery had left the mother weakened and Wargs tend to hunt in packs normally. I don't know how he survived but he did."

"How could your adoptive father let you leave home at ten, asked Ron with interest. I'm an adult and I barely can go to the loo without my mother's permission !"

Harry laughed good-heartedly.

"My father was the Last Elf. He was cursed to remain in the forest for eternity. I don't know why the Angels had to deliver me there when I was a toddler but it was probably the Big Guy's plan. Anyway, he taught me everything he knew, swordsmanship, how to survive in the wild, how to sing... But eventually, he had to let me experience the world. There were only the two of us if you don't count Quickfang, the Warg and the visits of Dusk and Dawn. I never saw another human until I left the forest."

"Who are they, asked Daphne. Dusk and Dawn, I mean."

His smile slowly disapeared from his face.

"Dusk is the Angel who picked me up here to deliver me in Ulcide. He used to be like a big brother in a way. It's him who gave me my mental protections and taught me War Magic. Once again, orders from the Archangels Council."

"You lived with an Angel, asked Hermione with wide eyes."

She had been raised in a Christian household and only the fact that she was not a graduated witch prevented her from joining the fight with the Soldiers. It had shaken her to her core to learn that actual Angels came to ask witches and wizards for help.

"You don't know the half of it, he said with a small smile."

"And Dawn, inquired Neville who was listening intently."

"She was Dusk's older sister, replied Harry so softly that it was almost a whisper."

He grabbed his pendant under his shirt for comfort. How he wished that things had happened differently. He would have given his life without a second thought for her.

"We should get inside now, he said. It's getting late."

He got up and dusted his butt. He extended his hands for the two young ladies who decided to sit down on the floor like beggars for him and lifted them off the ground gently. He did the same for the two guys who did the same for his sake.

He had finally opened up a bit and it felt good. His new friends had helped him on his path to recovery.

They slowly walked towards the Great Hall in silence. As they were about to enter to eat dinner, Harry turned to them.

"I know it was not much of an explanation but it's a long story..."

"It's okay, said Daphne with a sheepish smile. I'm sorry for the way I talked to you in the library."

"I had a long day, replied Harry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I'm sorry guys..."

"Don't worry mate, replied Ron with a grin. We're your friends !"

The statement brought a warm smile on Harry's face. He finally made some friends in Hogwarts. He already had friends. Albus, Duncan, and Sirius comes to mind, but for the first time since the beginning of the War, he won't live in fear of losing them the next day.

"But don't be mistaken, added Ron as he shook his finger in Daphne's direction. You're accepted now, but Gryffindor is still the best house here !"

"We'll see about that, replied Daphne with a smirk. If I remember correctly, we're winning the House Cup for the moment."

The week that followed was uneventful and spent in a good mood. Harry was finally enjoying the life of a regular Hogwarts student and was getting more and more accustomed to this world. Seamus had showed Harry some movies, in order to "catch up with our current time".

Half of the House of Lions had seen him the morning after, acting as Captain Jack Sparrow in the middle of the common room. He was wearing a red bandana and waving a saber, repeating famous lines of the movies. It took a long time to explain to him why he could reasonably not go in Professor McGonagall's class dressed as a pirate. He was very disappointed.

Speaking of Transfiguration, Harry and his friends had asked the stern Professor about their questions concerning the " Food Conundrum" and she had told them that they would learn about it in depth in their NEWT year if they were still taking Transfiguration then.

Life was good for the young Soldier.

He had friends, a cool castle to explore and live in, awesome classes were he could learn more about this world's magic. The only sore point had been the constant harassing he was suffering by some of his fellow students.

The article about the return of the Soldiers and Harry's entrance in Hogwarts had finally been printed in the Daily Prophet. Now he had deal with hundreds of owls coming to deliver him mail in the morning. Half of them were from young witches and some young wizards, asking him if he wanted to have a good time. Some were even accompanied with magical photos of the senders in outfits one could only describe as "Not Safe For Work".

That's why he was sitting in a unused classroom, on a Sunday morning, sorting his mail.

Another student had joined the group of friends. Tracey Davis, the young woman who had warned Albus and Harry of Daphne's predicament with the Trolls. Tracey was a rather tall young woman, with brown hair and black eyes. She had cheerful and laidback personnality that matched her good looks.

Since her brush with death, Daphne had become much warmer to her old Slytherin friend. They met on the Hogwarts Express on their first year and had become good friend by the time they arrived to Hogsmeade. They had a rough patch during the year the Soldier were gone, as Daphne became colder and colder, but now, they were both ready to resume their friendship were they left it.

"That's just ridiculous, cried out Hermione. That's the fourteenth proposition to shag you received today and we're still not even halfway there !"

"I know, said Ron as he nodded his head with energy. I've got a girlfriend and I can't even-"

The red-head was stopped by a slap on his shoulder from his said girlfriend.

"I told you Ron, she hissed. Not before marriage !"

Harry was confused by this and tilted his head on the side.

"There's something I still haven't figured out, he said with a thoughtful look. I understand that marriage in this world is some sort of ritual that bound two people together for life. What I don't understand is the place of sex in this equation. Is it restricted or what ?"

It was a legitimate question for him ! What people tend to forget is that what is obvious for one, is another's mystery.

"Wait a minute, said Hermione. You mean to tell me that it's not something you knew ?"

"Of course not, he said as he put the letter he was reading down. There's some similarity with matrimonial relatioships in Ulcide but not the part where you can't shag before the Bonding !"

His friends were watching him with wide eyes. It never occurred to them that someone who lived with Angels would not understand marriage !

"How does it works in your world then, said Ron with interest."

"Well, when you meet someone you like and both of you agree to be in a relationship, even for one night, you have to exchange something. Let's take an exemple, okay ? When I was fourteen, I was a sailor. And one day we made a stop in a port city in Pertiel, a country next to the one we were meant to deliver the shipment. In the tavern there I met a waitress. I told her that I would leave the next day, was not looking for something serious and would not come back. She was okay with it. She gave me a brass ring and I gave her a knife from my personnal collection. At this moment it is socially acceptable to fuck. If it's a serious relationship you want, you give the other person something meaningful. Something you hold dear. And when you're sure that she or he is the one, you perform the Bonding.

It's quite similar to your marriage. There's a ceremony, an after-party and most importantly, you both leave a mark on the other's body. It's your magical signature, a proof that you both belong to the other. And if, Heavens forbid, one of the two bonded individual cheat on the other with someone else, the other is instantly alerted and the cheater is considered a paria. Sex is not a taboo in our society. Our lives were too hard, and sometimes too short to bother with it. However, cheating is on the same level of criminal offence as killing or raping."

"But that's wrong, said Hermione."

"According to who, replied Harry. We're only mortals. I saw a lot of different things that made me question my ways. In the end, all you can do is your best. You can't expect everyone to live according to your belief. As long as you try your best to be a respectable person and don't treat others like shit you will probably not end up in Hell. I'm not telling you that your religion is wrong. That would be absolutely outrageous. All I'm saying is that what is right for you, is not always right for another person. And it's fine. I don't claim to know the way to Heavens. I don't claim to know the right way to live your life. It's just that my way is different than yours. There is no value-judgement, just the acknowledgement that there are multiple ways to be right."

And just like that he went back to sorting his mail, as if he just talked about the weather.

Neville and Tracey were the least bothered by what they just heard. It was kind of logical. It could be summarised by "don't be a dick, you'll be okay".

Daphne was a bit confused by the turn the conversation had taken. They had started talking about sex of all things and ended up getting lectured by a man who lived and fought alongside Angels about Right and Wrong.

Ron was torn between excitement and restraint. Excited because a Soldier just told his religious girlfriend that it can be alright to shag. However he won't push her either. Religion is an important part of Hermione's life and he would not jeopardize his relationship with the woman he loved ( and wanted to marry) just for that. It surprised even him that he could be so mature when a few years back he would have thrown a temper tantrum if his brothers had a bigger share of the dessert.

As for Hermone her mind was a total mess. She needed some time to process what she had heard.

"Excuse me, she said. I need to go to the bathroom."

"I'll come with you, said Daphne as she got up."

"I'll tag along, added Tracey, with a flick of her long brown hair."

When the girls had left, the two young man turned to Harry with expectant eyes.

"So... How is it, asked Ron."

"How is what, replied Harry with a knowing smile. He knew what his friend meant but he wanted to make him sweat a little."

"You know... Sex ?"

Neville nodded vigorously.

"Nice. I don't know what you expect me to say. The first few times were really awkard but after a while it become easier."

Neville leaned forward, as if it was some sort of super secret discussion they were having. It made Harry chuckle as they were the only ones in the room anyway.

"How many times did you... I mean, how many girls..."

The shy Gryffindor was a bit red, and kept stuttering.

"I don't know, replied Harry with a smile. I didn't count. I had my fair share of one night stands when I was travelling. Maybe twenty or so ? After that I settled with someone..."

His voice broke a little in the end and both boys knew it was a sensitive subject.

"Sorry mate, apologised Ron. Look, I know we've met last week but if you want to talk about anything, you can tell us. That's what friends are for after all."

A warm feeling spread through Harry's chest. He finaly understood why Albus was so adamant about him going ot Hogwarts to enjoy a normal life.

"I'd like that. Thanks a lot guys."

"Daphne told us that you talked to her about your homeworld, added Neville. Before, you know..."

"You wanna hear about it too ?"

"Yeah, replied Ron. Of course we want to ! It's a different bloody world, who wouldn't ?"

"Alright ! Let's wait for the girls to come back and we'll take a break. We can go next to the Black Lake. The weather is lovely today."

Around half an hour later, the six of them were sitting on a blanket, under a tree near the Black Lake. The sun was shining brightly upon them, warming them just enough so they would not be cold. It was November, after all.

"And then she said : "But Ron, that's not your broom. It's Filch's !"

All of them laughed good-heartedly at the funny story Ron just told them. If anyone had told Ron Weasley that he would be having a good laugh with Slytherins and not AT them four years ago, he would probably had called them barmy. Life is unpredictable this way.

When they had caught their breath, a comfortable silence fell on them. They were waiting for Harry to start his life-story. The young man had told them that it would probably take more than one sitting to tell them the whole tale.

Understanding that it was his turn to share, Harry cleared his throat and fidgeted a bit.

"After Voldemort's defeat, he started ignoring the shivers and small gasps. I was supposed to be left under the porch of my last blood relatives. However, the Archangel Council had other plans for me, as you know. Dusk, was tasked to bring me in Ulcide, more precisely, in the Eternal Forest. Even now, after everything that happened, I still don't know why. Regardless, he did and left me in the cares of Ved'hel. He was the Last Elf. The only left of his kind.

I don't remember much prior to my sixth birthday. I told you I found Quickfang in the Forest and brought him back with me. After that, Ved'hel started to train me. He was cursed, you see. Unable to leave the Forest, unable to die. He knew that one day, I would have to leave home to see the wide world. Neither him nor Dusk and Dawn were humans, after all.

It was hard. So very hard. The morning I had to get up at sunrise, and learn swordmanship. The Elves were renowned for their fighting prowess, and "no son of Elf shall be inept with a sword" he used to tell me. Then we spent the afternoons in the woods. I had to hunt my own meal or I was not allowed to eat until late in the evening. It might seems harsh, but I still had more food than most children of my age across the world. He taught me to stalk a prey, to kill it quickly and painlessly. To move without being seen or heard. To survive in the wild. I swear, I spent so much time learning how to start a fire that I could do it with my eyes closed now. In the evening, he'd teach me how to sing like a proper Elf. But in the end, I'm just a Human. No matter what, none of us could match the voice of an Elf. Every two days, Dusk and Dawn would join us in the evening. I can't even begin to describe how it feels to sing with them. Just imagine, me a poor six years old, trying my best to match their unbelievable voices. I've seen many feats of magic. People lifting boulders or creating a waterfall out of nowehere. But this... The entire forest, no, the entire world was listening to their songs. If you can call them songs, really. It feels wrong to use such a common word to describe something as enthralling. The trees were littered with small creatures who came to listen to them. Even the fiercest beasts were bowing in front of the sheer magnificence they erupted..."

He closed his eyes, trying to remember evey details as vividly as possible.

"Most of the time it was Dawn who was the leading voice, he added with his eyes still closed."

A small smile crept upon his face, as he was recalling the simple and happy days of his childhood.

"Even in Heaven, her voice was unparalleled..."

Unfortunately, these fond memories were tainted by the harsh reality of the last years. He tried to keep the pain and grief away, but to no avail as a small, single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Once we were done singing, the two of them would teach me War Magic. I was so naive back then. I was so excited, so childish really. I wanted to be like the warriors of legends, in the bed-time stories Ved'hel used to tell me. I wanted to be the noble knight who came to the rescue of the beautiful princess. I wanted to make my family proud, to live old enough to see my great-grandchildren and have a lot of memories to tell them...

So I trained, harder and harder. Quickfang became larger and stronger. He was the only one around my age and even if he was a beast, at least he was mortal. My whole family was made out of immortal beings. A cursed Elf, and two Angels. I was the only one concerned about dying before I had accomplished anything. He was the only one who brought me a sense of normality, if it make sense. He and I would die one day, while the others will live. Or so I thought back then."

He wiped the tear with his sleeve. Unaware that his friends were listening with a mix of deep sadness and fascination.

"Moving on, he said with a weak laugh that fooled no one. When I was eight, I asked if I could go and hunt the Iron Bear who killed Quickfang's family. Ved'hel agreed, but only if he could come with me and watch. He said it was because he wanted to make sure my training had bore its fruits, but I knew it was because he was worried. I managed to kill it but he had scratched my torso pretty badly. After that, Ved'hel treated me more like a young adult than a child. I told you before that most children end up helping their parent with their work. Wether you are the daughter of a farmer or the son of a blacksmith, you will learn the same Domain and do the same job. In most of the cases anyway. Two more years went by, and I started to get more and more excited to finally meet one of my kind. Ved'hel gave me "The Talk" as you call it. It was the most awkward thing now that I think about it... We had just stopped singing, and all of a sudden, the three of them looked at me dead in the eye and said "We have to talk to you about sex.". I had to sit here for half an hour, as an Elf who was more than three thousands years old lectured me about intercourse and two Angels were beside him, nodding at his every words..."

He shuddered despite the relatively warm temperature. They noticed his face starting to get redder with embarassement. He ended up burying his face in his hand with shame.

"What's wrong, asked Tracey. Something happened ?"

"Of course something happened ! How would you react if your childhood crush was sitting in front of you as your adoptive father was talking about... THAT !?"

"Wait a minute, interrupted Neville. You told us you never met a human prior to the beginning of your travels."

"And I never said that she was Human, he replied his face still buried in his hand. Why do you think I wanted to go in a journey across the world ? I wanted to have a lot of awesome stories to tell Dawn ! I wanted to impress her !"

His friends started laughing at him. His face was now crimson and he could barely look at them in the eye.

"You, started Daphne between fits of laughter. Haha- You were crushing on an Angel-Hahaha."

His face slowly lost its red taint. The hilarity died down as they noticed his serious and sad face.

"Yes I was, he replied neutrally. I asked to leave the Forest a few weeks later. They agreed. I was strong enough to handle myself in most of the dangerous situations. My swordsmanship alone was on par with a lot of Human masters, and I had the basics of War Magic figured out. We had a huge banquet, and I left in the morrow. Quickfang came with me, of course. He was large enough for me to ride it. And after a day of travel, I finally reached a town and met the firsts of my kind."

The group of friends were still listening with attention, leaning forward in anticipation.

"And, asked Hermione. What happened ?"

"That's it for today, he said with a cheeky smile as he slapped his own thighs for emphasis. I barely started and it's almost three in the afternoon."

"Come on mate, exclaimed Ron. You can't leave us hanging like that !"

"I sure can, replied Harry. The next two years alone would take me an entire day to talk about !"

They spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the castle ground. The sun was now setting and the warmth of his rays were gone.

As they were walking towards the school, Tracey interrupted them :

"Are we gonna ignore the fact that he named a giant wolf, Quickfang ?"

"I was six, cried out Harry. Cut me some slack !"

 **AN : Hello there !(General Kenobi...) How are you guys doing ? Just wanted to share my feelings about this part. I had a hard time writing this one as well. The fact that Harry and his friends broached a sensitive subject as religious belief made me uneasy. Once again, don't take anything in this fanfiction seriously. There will be more sensitive topics in this fic, but remember that every opinion voiced in this story is the characters' and not mine. If you're really not comfortable with that, you'd better stop reading now. I'm not going to change my story if you're offended.**

 **I mentioned a Deathclaw from Fallout in this chapter. It's something I found rather fitting. I thought about it when I wrote the part about the Muggleborn referring to Harry's magic as an EXP system in a RPG. It doesn't exactly work like that but it will be explained more in depths in later chapters. I imagined the said Muggleborn calling a type of Demon a Deathclaw. More on that later as well ;)**

 **Thanks to keyblademeister88 and Raceman1234 for your reviews, you guys are the bests.**

 **Feel free to point out any mistake I overlooked. Any plot-holes as well. I'm doing my best to avoid them, but I'm still looking for a beta.**

 **See you soon !**


	8. Chapter Seven : We Just Got A Letter !

**Chapter Seven : We Just Got A Letter ! I Wonder Who It's From ?**

The month of December brought snow and cold in the valley. Almost no one was willing to brave the harsh weather in order to go outside. One of those was Harry Potter, who still trained every morning at the crack of dawn, completely undeterred by the conditions. His classes were going well. Even Potions was good. The Potion Master surprised everyone when he acted as a fair teacher to Harry. Most of the students thought it was because Potter and the Headmaster were friends but a few of them speculated that it was because something happened between the two of them that lead Snape to back off. Apart from that nothing of note occurred. Dumbledore as a DADA teacher was a welcome change from Quirell. Life in the castle was good, except for one thing. He still had no Angel's Drop to drink. He would have to do something about that soon.

A Slytherin named Draco Malfoy kept throwing him hateful glares, but never did anything else for now, so Harry decided to leave him be. You can't expect everyone to like you, and the boy never acted against him so far.

Harry stepped out of the shower of his dorm, a towel wrapped around his waist. He got dressed and discreetly went in the common room to wait for breakfast. He had time. It was a Sunday after all.

Later this morning, Harry was still eating his breakfast with his Gryffindor friends. The Great Hall was once again filled with chatters, as the students were busy eating their meals. Albus had helped him with his mail situation a few days prior by casting a few mail-redirecting charms. Now only the importants letters such as those sent by member of a Noble House, the Ministry, fellow Soldiers or his friends were able to find him during his breakfast.

So it was quite a surprise when he saw four owls flying toward him this morning. Each of them were carrying a different letter. The owls waited until Harry received their letters then flew away, taking a piece of bacon with them.

"My bacon, screamed Harry with indignation. Get back here, you scoundrels !"

Unfortunately, the owls flew even faster and were soon out of sight... He sat down under the laughs of almost every students in the Great Hall. Every witch or wizard had been a victim of an hungry owl at least once in their life, and the Boy-Who-Lived was no exception.

Harry began to check the letters. Two were from Duncan, one was an informal letter, and the second was written as Lord Duncan Greengrass, with his family seal. He opened the informal one first.

"Dear Harry.

I hope you're doing well in school. Daphne wrote to me and told me you were starting to talk about your life a bit more. I'm glad you're getting your shits together. You deserve a good life, but you have to let it happen first. Astoria and Annabelle told me to pass on their greetings.

Hopefully, the other letter will arrive at the same time as this one, but in the event that it didn't, I'm inviting you to spend the Christmas hollidays with us. I managed to convince my wife to let me host a gathering for our brothers and sisters. We will finally have this huge party we were all so thrilled to have once it would be over. You will find the details in the other letter.

We'll talk more in two weeks when we meet on the platform in King's Cross. I know you never took the Hogwarts Express, and I'm sure you'll love it.

See you soon. Duncan (and Annabelle)(and Astoria)."

The second letter was exactly what Duncan said it would be. A formal invitation to attend to a party hosted by Lord Greengrass.

The third letter was from the Head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones. She wrote a very short and to-the-point letter where she explained that in the light of the evidences and the memory she watched, he would not be charged of any crime for his implication in the death of Professor Quirinus Quirell. She also mentioned that she had talked about his statement regarding to Sirius Black to the Minister of Magic.

As for the fourth and last letter, it was from Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself, who wanted to meet with him at his earliest convenience.

Harry sighed. He knew that he would need to thread carefully from here. He had dealt with nobles and royals before, but he knew very few things on this man, Fudge. He would have to speak with Albus or Duncan soon. Preferably both. It could be the key to Sirius' freedom or Harry's political suicide. Not that he was intersted in politics, but he had to admit that it was an useful tool. His family was not part of the Wizengamot, but his fame as the Boy-Who-Lived and his status of war hero more than made up for that.

"What's wrong Harry, asked Hermione. Are the charms not working ?"

"They are working, replied Harry with a small smile. I won't have to deal with more offers to shag. No, those are important letters, but I'd like to talk about it with the whole gang."

As per usual, they were sitting in an unused classroom on the third floor. They had pushed the old and crumbling furnitures against the wall, had cleaned the floor thanks to magic, and Harry had asked Albus to conjure some comfy chairs and sofas along with a large table. This way, they could meet here and spend some times together, regardless of their different houses and still be able to talk normally. Something they coud not do in the library.

"I still find it incredible that you are on a first-name basis with Professor Dumbledore, said Hermione as she sat down next to Ron on a large sofa. It was really nice of him to rearrange the furnitures for us."

"I had to accept a request in exchange for that, replied Harry."

"What is it, asked Neville. Why would he need your help with something ?"

"He asked me to get him some bottles of Angel's Drop next time I'm able to get some. We all got quite fond of this drink. Nothing can compare to it !"

"What is it exactly, inquired Tracey, I mean, I get that it's a drink and most likely from the Angels but, how does it taste, how do they make it ?"

"That's the thing, replied Harry with twinkles in his eyes. It taste different for everyone ! For me it's sweet like honey, slightly sparkling and smells like freshly cut grass next to a clear mountain river. For your father Daphne, it's bitter-sweet, bubbly and smells like the parfume your mother wore on her wedding day."

Everyone had the same expression of interest upon their face, even Hermione who never drank anything alcoholic except for a cup of champagne every now and then on big occasions.

"And for Dumbledore, asked Daphne out of curiosity. What does it tastes for him ?"

"Liquid Lemon Drop. What else did you expect from him ?"

He put a finger on his chin as he took a thoughtful expression.

"I don't know exactly how they do it but I know that the key ingredient is a drop of Angelic Ichor. Which is the Angel's equivalent of blood, by the way."

This revelation caused his friend to raise their eyebrows and look at each other with a puzzled look on their face.

"That's... weird, said Ron after a few moment of intense reflexion. Scratch that, it's fucked up. I mean, drinking Angel blood like some sort of vampire..."

"It's one drop of Ichor for a whole barrel of the drink, replied Harry. But i'll admit that it's a bit fucked up. Especially if you consider that it was mainly Angels that drinks Angel's Drop before they introduced it to us Soldier."

"How are you going to get some, asked Neville. I doubt you can go to any shop and ask for a bottle, right ?"

"Well, next time I go to what's left of Ulcide to deal with some unfunished business, I'll ask Dusk. Or whoever it is that bring me there."

"You're going back, asked Daphne. When ?"

"During the summer vacations, replied the young Soldier. I won't stay long though. Maybe a month. Speaking of vacations, did you receive your dad's letter Daphne ?"

"About the party for the Soldiers ? Yeah I did."

"And you're okay with me spending the hollidays at your place ? I don't want to be a bother."

"No, it's fine, replied the blond haired Slytherin. Plus Tracey is coming too."

Tracey nodded energically at that declaration.

"Okay, I wanted to talk to all of you about that because I think you will all be welcome. Ron's familly will be here of course, and if you want to come too, Hermione, you're more than welcome to attend the party. Neville, you are of course welcome as well. And if Tracey is here, everyone will be attending."

"You're sure that we can come, inquired Neville as his old insecurites resurfaced. I don't want to come uninvited..."

"You are now, replied Harry with a smile. I doubt anyone will bother you, but if it's the case, just say that it's me who told you to come."

"And they will let us sit at the VIP booth, joked Tracey. I don't know if it works the same as a nightclub..."

"What's a nightclub, asked Harry. Raised in another world, remember ?"

"Oh, it's a muggle thing, answered Hermione, always happy to teach Harry something new about the muggle world. It's a place where you go to listen to really loud music and dance. It's generally crowded and people wait in line to enter. But if you're on the V.I.P. List, you can enter immediatly and you get special treatment."

"Aaaah, breathed Harry. Yeah, like a VIP then."

"Aren't we a little bit confident, Potter, smirked Daphne. It's my house after all."

"You'll see at the party then, Greengrass, replied Harry cheekily."

"Now that it's out of the way, said Hermione. Let's do our homework !"

"Slave-driver, answered Harry and Ron."

That very night, Harry was sitting with Albus in his office, drinking a pint of beer. The old Headmaster had run out of liquor a few night before and had to offer him a more "simple drink".

"I'm sorry, apologized the old wizard. I have to buy more bottles, but I have to catch up with all the work for the ICW and as the Chief Warlock..."

"It's fine, waved Harry off. I like beer. Dwarves don't drink anything else so I had to do with it."

"Anyway, replied Albus with a smile. I understand you have something you want to talk about ?"

"Straight to the point then. Yes, I received a letter from Cornerlius Fudge this morning, asking me to meet with him at my earliest convenience. I think it's about Sirius..."

"Can I see it, asked the Headmaster. Depending on how the letter is formulated, it could mean a lot of different things."

"Sure, replied Harry as he handed the letter to his brother in arms. You're more accustomed with politcking than I am."

"I'll take that as a compliment then, joked Dumbledore."

He took a quick look at the letter, his eyebrows furrowing.

"I see... It's quite carefully written. It doesn't explain why he wants to meet, and even though he said at "your earliest convienience", it entails that you should hurry up. It's the Minister of Magic after all."

"So what should I do ? Do I speak about Sirius' trial right away or do I wait for him to broach the subject ?"

"I recommend you meet him and test the water, replied Albus. This meeting is the start of your relationship with the Minister and by extension, the Ministry of Magic. He will probably try to recruit you as a supporter. Want it or not, you are the Boy-Who-Lived and a Soldier. The fact that you came back from the War, means that you got the skills to go on par with your title for the population."

Harry grunted.

"It's not necessarly a bad thing though, explained Albus. Fudge is a politician. He is not a powerful wizard, not very smart, but he's able to make connections with powerful people, like the Malfoys. If you can show him that you can be a powerful ally, he might want to help you if it means that you will lend him your public support in the future."

They both fell into silence for a couple of minute, as Harry silently drank his beer. Then a huge predatory smile crept on his face.

"You said that if I can show him that I can be a powerful ally, he could help us, right ?"

"Yes, replied the Headmaster, I just said that."

"And you received your letter for the party, right ?"

Albus grinned dangerously.

"I think I know where you are going..."

"Do you think Duncan would agree to have one more guest at the party ?"

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind, replied Albus with a twinkle in his eyes. Especially if it's the great Demonsbane who invited him."

They both poured themselves another glass of beer and cheered at their scheme.

"I hate that nickname, said Harry. But it sure can come in handy !"

The next morning, Cornelius Fudge received a letter from Harry Potter, stating that it would be his honor to meet with the Minister of Magic in person and that he was available whenever he was able to make some space in his busy scheldule. Cornelius immediatly asked his secretary to cancel his appointment with Lucius Malfoy tomorrow morning. Lucius would no doubt understand the importance of such a meeting and the potential profits that a a frienship with the Boy-Who-Lived entailed. He then wrote a quick letter to inform Potter that he would meet with him tomorrow at 9 AM as one of his meetings had been cancelled at the last minute. No reason for the young man to think that the Minister had made some time purposedly for him.

After a long Monday, Harry was sitting in the Great Hall, enjoying his dinner. Flitwick had given him an EE on his essay, and said that the only reason he hadn't given him an O like Hermione was the fact that he had been wrong on the historical origins of the Engorgement Charm. Nevertheless, Harry was pleased with himself.

His meal was interrupted when his snowy owl swooped down and lifted its leg to let him take a letter.

Careful not to hurt her, Harry untied the knot and scratched the owl's head. He then gave it a big chunk of his steak and let it fly away.

The raven haired young man read the letter carefully and went back to his meal.

"Guys, he said to his Gryffindor friends. Could you tell Professor McGonagall that I wont be here for her class tomorrow morning ?"

"You're not going to start skipping classes aren't you, asked Hermione."

"Of course not, replied Harry with a smile. I've got an appointement tomorrow. Don't worry, the Headmaster is aware of it and I've done my homework. Could you give it to her in my stead ?"

"Sure, but you better have a valid excuse."

"Thanks. I'm going out for a bit. I'll join you in the classroom."

He left the table and exited the Great Hall. He only had to walk through the Entrance Hall and he was out in the courtyard.

He spotted Justin smoking under the roofed pathway around the paved ground. He walked towards him as he conjured a cigarette and lit it with his wand.

"Yo Harry, greeted the Muggleborn. You're done eating ?"

"Yeah, I'm stuffed. You already ate ?"

"Of course I did, replied the Hufflepuff. I wanted to have a quick smoke. How's life ?"

"Good, replied Harry. Great, even. I'm so jealous that you guys could live your whole life like this."

"Well not all of us, said Justin after a drag. Muggles don't live like that."

"Not what I meant, replied the green eyed young man. I mean, with a roof over your head, three meals a day, and without worrying about monsters attacking you..."

"Once again, not everyone lives in such good conditions. Apart from the monsters thing. It's easy to forget that a lot of people are homeless and must eat whatever they can, when they can. Especially when you've lived in the magical world for a bit. I've never seen a wizard or a witch living in the street."

"True. I don't know a lot about this world, but it seems as though misery is a thing every world share. And the worst monsters sometimes wears humans' clothing..."

They both smoke in silence for a bit after that.

"Anyway, said Justin. I heard you started watching movies."

"Yeah I did, replied Harry cheerfully. They're awesome ! Seamus told me he would show me some James Bond movies next."

"I'm sure you'll like it, Captain Sparrow, joked Justin."

"You heard about that ?"

"Everyone heard about that."

"Fuck."

A middle aged wizard was sitting at his desk in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. His job may not be the most exciting, but it was an important one. All he had to do was to check the wands of the visitors that entered the Ministry, check their badges if they had one and provide them with directions, if needed. At this hour, all the employees were already at their desk and only a couple of visitors would come. He was counting the tiles on the roof for the thousandth time this month when the fireplace lit up and a black haired young man was sent sprawling to the floor.

'Ten bucks it's a Muggleborn who never used Floo Travel before, he bet with himself.'

The visitor got back up and dusted himself off, while swearing in a low voice. The young man had vibrant green eyes, hair black as a starless night. Even with his robes, the wand-checker could see he was really fit.

"Sir, called the guard. Over here please."

The young man smiled and walked towards him.

"Welcome to the Ministry. I'll have to check your wand."

"Oh, sure, replied the visitor. Here you go."

"Your name, Sir ?"

"Harry James Potter."

The middle aged Ministry worker opened his mouth and closed it, making him look like a fish out of water. He stared at Harry's forehead and saw a faint lightning bolt shaped scar. He finally pulled himself together and proceeded to shake Harry's hand vigorously.

"Such an honor, Mr Potter, he said with glee."

"Nice to meet you to, Mr ?"

"Munch, replied the man. Eric Munch, Sir. Now, I apologize, but you will have to go through the same security measures as everyone else."

"Of course, replied Harry. Please proceed."

Munch put the wand on the wand weigher.

"Holly and Phoenix Feather, Eleven Inches... Done, here you go, Mr Potter."

"Thank you, Mr Munch. I have an appointment with the Minister of Magic at 9 AM, where do I go ?"

"Oh, of course, just take the elevator on your right when you enter the main hall and go to the first floor."

"Thanks again. Have a nice day."

"You too, Mr Potter !"

The young man walked away and left a very cheerful Eric Munch behind him. The guard will have a great story to tell to his children this evening !

Harry arrived on the first floor. In front of him stood a counter with a pretty young witch with long dark hair who was writing something on a piece of parchment. The walls were all made out of marble and were littered with fancy magic lamps that provided the light for the room. The floor was covered by an expensive looking carpet. All in all, it exuded riches.

The Soldier walked to the counter and the witch stopped what she was doing to speak to the visitor.

"Welcome to the first floor Sir, she said with a sweet voice."

"Thank you, replied Harry with a smile. I have an appointment with Mr Fudge in five minutes. I'm Harry Potter."

To her credit, the young woman refrained from shaking his hand and stare at him disbelievingly, but her eyes still widened.

"O-Oh, she began. Of course, the Minister told me you would come. Please follow me."

She stood up and hurriedly walked around the counter to lead him where he would wait for the Minister to come and pick him up personally.

"Have a nice day, Mr Potter, said the young witch with a very faint blush on her face."

"You too, replied Harry with a gentle smile."

He was not oblivious to his charms. He knew that he was good looking. But he could not bring himself to move on.

A few minutes went by and the door next to the bench he was sitting opened slowly.

A portly little man walked out of the room. He had grey hair, covered by a green bowler hat, and a jovial expression on his face when he saw Harry.

"Mr Potter, asked Fudge with a bright smile."

"Yes, Nice to meet you, Minister, replied Harry with a smile of his own."

"Please come in, said Fudge as he gestured to Harry to walk in his office. Sit down, sit down."

The minister closed the door behind his guest and walked behind his desk to sit down.

The office was lit by the same kind of lamps than the corridor. The walls were covered by a dark grey wallpaper, and the dark wooden floor provided a nice contrast with the neon blue light emitted from a fish tank across the room.

Harry sat down after the Minister did and smiled once more.

"Would you like some tea, Harry, asked the Minister as he gestured to an expensive looking tea-set on his right. I can call you Harry ?"

"Of course, Minister. Why couldn't you ?"

"Please, call me Cornelius when it's just the two of us, he said with a wink. So, tea ?"

"With pleasure, Cornelius."

They took a sip of their cups. It was a pleasant drink. Not particularly mind blowing, but good nonetheless.

"It's a special blend I ordered for big occasions, explained Cornelius with a warm expression. I hope you find it to your liking."

"It's absolutely wonderful, thank you very much, replied Harry. I'm honored."

"Please don't be so shy, waved the Minister off. Tell me, how is life at Hogwarts ?"

There was the first occasion for the young warrior to show the Minister that he was not a simple schoolboy.

"It's magnificent, replied the raven haired young man. The castle is beautiful, and the classes are all so interesting. Such a pleasant change from the battlefield..."

"Ah, yes. Of course. I'm really glad you could come back to us alive. To be honest, it was a real surprise when no one could find you on your eleventh birthday for the start of your magical education."

"There's a reason for that Cornelius, stated Harry as he put down his cup of tea. You see, I was raised in Ulcide and only came back with the rest of the Soldier. I never imagined you would look for me. I apologize for the inconvenience."

The minister' eyes widened when he heard what the young man in front of him just said.

"You were raised in another world, he asked incredulously. Extraordinary ! It explains why we couldn't find you !"

"Indeed, replied Harry with a playful smile."

"It must have been terrible, said the minister. The War I mean..."

"It was, replied Harry with a forlorn look. It was only thanks to the brave witches and wizards that came to our help that we were able to fend off the legions of Hell..."

"Well said, Harry. Well said. Tell me, I've heard that one of the Soldiers you were fighting with is one Sirius Black ?"

They were finally in the heart of the subject.

"Yes. He's a fine warrior and a honorable man. I was so shocked to learn that he was thrown in Azkaban by your predecessor without a trial. What a shame..."

"That's actually the reason I wanted to meet with you today. If what you say is true, then a great injustice was committed by the previous ministers."

"I'm positive, replied the young Soldier. An innocent was incarcerated without a trial, for a crime he did not commit and still decided to join the fight for my world and yours. If my word is not enough, I'm sure you'll trust the Angels. They only picked people who had it in them to come and fight for what's right or people who could still change for the better."

"I'll need some time to think, replied the Minister with a thoughtful look. It could be disastrous for the Ministry. The population could turn on me..."

"Of course, it's a huge ordeal. However, if I personally support the decision, it might be easier. Everyone think that Sirius killed my parents, but if I vouch for his innocence, and provide my support, that's a whole different matter. But I don't want to pressurise you."

"I appreciate your consideration, replied neutrally the Minister. Also, I wanted to congratulate you on protecting the school against those Trolls and whatever it was that was controlling Professor Quirell. Such a brave deed shall not go unrewarded. Add to that your participation in the War, I think you'd be more than qualified for an Order of Merlin, Second Class at least !"

As Harry stated before, he was no master politician, but even he had to tip his hat to Fudge for such a brilliant move.

He managed to change the subject, flatter Harry, and offer him a reward that would make them both shine for the public. He would be the Minister that rewarded the Boy-Who-Lived with an award for his victory against Voldemort, his participation in the Demonic War, even if he knew next to nothing about the young Soldier's true role, and his part on protecting Hogwarts.

That is the best part about made-up awards. They could technically be handed to anyone, and costed nothing. The population would see it as a just recognition, but the truth is, those rewards have no value on their own. In the end, it's only a medal. A bad compensation for risking your life for everyone's sake. Especially if you never asked for anything in return.

"Please Cornelius, replied Harry. I only did what anyone in my place would have done. And about me being a Soldier, I could not accept it. I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror if only I was awarded while my brothers and sisters were not."

"I insist, said Fudge. I cannot in good conscience leave such feats go unrewarded !"

It was the occasion Harry was waiting. An opening to do what he really came here for.

"Well, if you really want to reward me, I have something in mind..."

"And what could it be ?"

"You see, explained Harry. My dear friend, Lord Duncan Greengrass is holding a reception during the hollidays. The 28th to be exact. It will be a party for my fellow Soldiers who came back and their family. I'd be honored if you accepted to join us. It would really be wonderful to have such an esteemed guest among us."

It was a brilliant idea. Both for him and the Minister. He would prove to Fudge that he was not a man he wanted to be on the bad side and the Minister will appear as grateful for the sacrifices and courage the Soldier demonstrated.

"It will be my pleasure, replied Fudge with a shit-eating grin. I'll be sure to come."

"Great, said Harry. I will write Lord Greengrass to send you an invitation. He'll be delighted !"

When Harry got back from the Ministry, it was already noon and lunch would be served soon. He Flooed back to Albus' office with the usual grace he had when it came to magical transportations.

"I'd rate this landing a solid ten, said Albus behind his desk."

"Shut up old man, replied Harry as he wiped the sooth out of his clothes."

"How did it go ?"

"According to plan. He wanted to give me an Order of Merlin, but I refused and asked him to attend to the party. He accepted. Now we only have to tell Duncan to send him an invitation."

"Excellent. Did you ask him for a note you could give to Professor McGonagall ?"

"Yeah, said the green eyed warrior as he flaunted the piece of parchment. I'll go grab lunch now."

"Bon appetit, Demonsbane."

"Eat a dick, shot back the young man jokingly."

 **AN : Hey what's up guys, It's Aldrek here. I used to upload one chapter per week but I'm a bit late this time. This chapter is one of those "filler" chapter. There's nothing really huge happening but it was necessary to understand the events that will happen in next week's chapter. Hope you liked it nonetheless.**

 **Thank to the person who took two minutes to review as a guest, to monstermadcat and keyblademeister88, for your reviews. You're the best.**

 **See you next week !**


	9. Chapter Eight : Hell Hath No Fury

**Chapter Eight : Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned**

 **DISCLAIMER : I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY WORK THAT MAY BE REFERENCED IN THIS STORY.**

The whole castle was buzzing with anticipation as all the students were rushing to pack their thing for the trip back home. The Christmas holidays were finally here, and they soon will see their families again. And avoid homework for a while, of course.

In his dorm in Gryffindor Tower, almost all of Harry's dormmate were running around like headless chickens, trying to find their belongings at the last minute.

"Where the bloody hell is my Broom Maintenance Kit, cried out Ron as he rummaged through his sheets, in a desperate attempt to find his lost item."

"Have anyone seen my Remembrall, asked Neville as he poked his head from underneath his bed. I can't find it ! I'd swear I'd left it on my nightstand yesterday !"

Harry was calmly closing his trunk with an amused smile on his face. He barely had anything, except for a couple of pants, a few underwears, some shirts and a strange cloth package no one ever saw him take from his trunk. The rest of his school supplies will stay here, at Hogwarts.

"Don't just stand there you moron, said Ron with an angry glare. Help us !"

"Oh no, replied Harry while he shook his head. Hermione told you to pack yesterday but you didn't listen. Plus it's too much fun."

"Easy for you to judge me when you barely got anything except the clothes on your back."

"What do you want me to say, replied Harry with a shrug. I never got the time to go shopping. I've never had much stuff in all my life anyway. Wanderer's life and all that."

An overjoyed shout came from the bathroom. Seamus exited the bathroom stall with a bunch of magazines in his hand.

"Found it, he boasted. I knew I'd left them somewhere !"

"What are you talking about, asked Harry."

"My precious collection. My most treasured possession, replied the Irish young man with a solemn look on his face."

Dean shook his head and looked at Harry straight in the eyes.

"I never understood his obssession with adults magazines. It's the 21st century, just use Internet !"

Not understanding what his dormmates were talking about, Harry shook his hand and grabbed his trunk.

"I'm gonna head out guys, said Harry as he carried his trunk away. See you later !"

"Come back here, you quitter, shouted Neville. Harry !"

On his way to the courtyard, Harry ran into Albus and Professor McGonagall.

"Good morning Professors, he greeted them with a huge smile."

"Good morning Mr. Potter, said the Transfiguration teacher with a very small smile."

"Good morning Harry, replied Albus. Ready for your first trip on the Hogwarts Express ?"

"Yep, grinned back the young warrior. Can't wait to be on a train ! It sounded so cool from what I heard ! This world is just unbelievable ! Trains, cars and planes..."

Albus' eyes twinkled wildly when he saw his friend's childish expression. For so long, he wanted to manipulate him, wanted to make him a weapon for his cause.

But when he finally met him, Harry was already a man, despite his young age. He went through so much, without being able to enjoy the life of a normal boy. And now, he was here. They had an heartfelt relationship, one based on hardship and blood, sweat and tears. Now, the boy who grew up too fast, finally was acting as a young man who discovered life's joys once more. But Albus knew, that deep down, he was still broken, still utterly crushed by the cruelty of Fate. All he could do was provide him his support, not as a mentor, but as a real friend.

Funny how genuine care and honest feelings can do a lot better than tricks and manipulation.

"I'm glad that you're so excited. I will see you at Duncan's party."

"See you there. Good day, Professors."

When Harry turned around the corner and was out of sight, Minerva turned to Albus.

"That boy is an enigma. One day he's the embodiment of a god of war, and the next he's gushing about muggle inventions."

"That's Harry for you."

Harry made his way towards Hagrid's Hut, still carrying his trunk with him. He had visited the kind half-giant a couple times since the last time he saw him. Most of the time, they were talking about magical beasts and where to find them. And take care of them, of course. They took long walks across the grounds and sometimes in the Forbidden Forest, as Harry told Hagrid that he went in the Forest every day to train. The giant man wanted to argue that it was dangerous, but it was a bit of a moot point for someone as powerful as the mighty Demonsbane. He lived his entire childhood in the Eternal Forest, a place at least as dangerous as the one surrounding the castle and ten time larger. Klerah, the Thestral usually accompanied them, as she had took a liking to Harry's presence. Hagrid was so happy to have someone who shared his passion for potentially dangerous creatures that he soon forgot about the small fact that the Forest was supposed to be actually forbidden for students.

The young Soldier knocked on the heavy wooden doors of Hagrid's home and heard a loud voice shouting "I'm coming !", followed by Fang's barking.

"Harry, exclaimed the half giant when he saw his friend in the doorway. Come in."

"Sorry Hagrid, I can't stay long, replied Harry with a smile. I gotta catch the Express. I just wanted to say goodbye to you, Fang and Klerah."

"Oh, said Hagrid sounding a bit disappointed. It's okay. I'm glad you stopped by then. You're sure you don't want to take a cup of tea ?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt. I still have a bit of time."

Fang leaped towards Harry who quickly caught him in mid-air.

"Hey boy, said the young man between two fits of laughter. Good to see you too !"

The boarhound kept drooling and trying to lick Harry's face. The young Soldier didn't mind. He had worse memories with things way uglier trying to eat his face. Affectionately scratching behind the dog's ears, Harry finally let Fang down and sat down with Hagrid for a while. They drank a cup of tea, then Harry finally left for Hogsmeade Station. He met with his friends in front of the gates of the castle and they made their way towards one of the carriages.

To Harry's big surprise one of his friend was there.

"Klerah, he exclaimed as he ran toward the Thestral with a big smile."

The kind creature nuzzled Harry face and the young man gave her a big hug. He was too busy to see the look of incomprehension on his friends faces. Except for Neville who could see the Thestrals.

"What is he doing, asked Daphne with an eyebrow raised. Why is he hugging the air ?"

"He's not hugging the air, replied Neville with an amused voice. He's hugging a Thestral. You know, the creatures that pull the carriages."

"Of course, replied Hermione as she slapped her forehead. Why didn't I think of that. I always wondered how they could move on their own..."

"You can see them Nev', asked Tracey with a bit of worry in her voice for her friend."

"I always could, replied the shy Gryffindor. My grandpa'. Don't worry, I was almost too young to remember. Just bits and pieces. They creep me out though."

They watched Harry as he parted from the Thestral with one last pat on the neck and came back towards them.

"Everything alright, guys ?"

"Yeah, everything's good mate, answered Ron. Let's get inside the carriage, it's freezing out here."

The ride to the station was a slow and relaxing one. They calmly talked about their plans for the holidays. Of course, the whole group will meet at the party but there was still one week before that.

Hermione will spend the evening at the Burrow with the Weasleys then will join her parents until the night of the party. Neville will be helping his gran' in the greenhouse for the most time.

"So it will be the three of us at home then, said Tracey excitedly. Do you got any plans ?"

"Not really, replied Harry. Never thought I'd have to. Is it something you're supposed to do on your holidays ? Like some sort of tradition ?"

"No silly, answered Daphne with a amused smile. It's just obvious that you can't stay idle inside the house for the whole week."

"Try being on the road for six years, then tell me you don't want to stay at home doing nothing for a week."

"Fair point, conceded the blond Slytherin. But we're going to do some shopping. You lack both muggles and magical clothing and there's absolutely no way we're leaving you like this !"

"Sure, shrugged Harry. Why not. I've never done shopping anyway. Might as well try it."

Neville and Ron shook their head and pinched their noses.

"What, asked the young Soldier. What did I do ?"

"You don't know what you're getting into, replied Ron with a sympathetic look. You're going to regret this."

"Yes, added Tracey. We're going to make you beg to go home when we're done !"

"Scratch that, said Neville. He's dead."

On the platform Harry stood slackjawed in front of the huge red steam train. The fact that it was snowing only made the sight of the gigantic contraption even more breathtaking for the raven haired warrior.

"It's so fucking awesome, nearly shouted Harry as he ran along the platform. Woaw ! And you guys get to ride such a beauty every time you went to Hogwarts ?"

"Calm down, tried an amused Daphne when she saw his antics. People are starting to give you weird looks."

"Do I look like I give a single fuck ? It's so fucking cool !"

"You'd get along with my dad, said Ron with a smile."

"Yeah your brothers told me, said Harry with his eyes still glued to the Express. I still haven't met your sister by the way. Ginevra, right ?"

Ron's face became gloomy. He started to rub his neck.

"She's... She's not very outgoing. Not anymore. Since last year. She took it really bad. The fact that Bill and Charlie went with you guys. Her two favorite brothers went to wage a War in another world and she just started to distance herself from us. She barely leave her dorm now, and I haven't seen her since last month. Even then, our path crossed and she barely registered me."

Hermione grabbed Ron's arm and held him closer to her, providing him her support.

Harry's excitment died down when he saw his friend so depressed. In a way, he knew. Deep down he knew that, just because the fighting stopped, the War would never truly end. It was not as simple. And the proofs were right in front of him. His friends all suffered in one way or another. Be it at the hands of the Demons or by the absence and constant worry caused by their loved ones leaving.

"Come on guys, said Neville gently. Let's find a compartment."

It took a while before the light hearted mood came back but it eventually did.

Harry had left in order to find somewhere to smoke. He eventually arrived at the far end of the train and found a small balcony of some sort where he could induce in his bad habit. When he came back, everyone was chatting and back to normal.

"Here he is, said Neville. You can ask him directly."

Hermione turned to Harry as he sat down next to the window.

"What do you wanna ask, inquired the young man."

"What are you going to take for your electives ? It's important for your career and you should start thinking about that now."

Harry tapped his chin, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Care of Magical Creatures for sure, he finally replied. And probably Study of Ancient Runes. Apart from that I don't really know. I haven't looked what is essential for what I want to do..."

"Oh, exclaimed Tracey as she clapped her hand cheerfuly. Let me guess. Hmmm, Auror !"

"Nope, replied Harry."

"Hit Wizard, suggested Neville with an eyebrow raised."

"Hun-Hun, denied Harry."

"Head of the DMLE ?"

"No !"

"Minister of Magic ?"

"Heavens no !"

"Curse Breaker ?"

Harry shook his head.

They went back and forth for a couple of minute until they finally gave up.

"Fine, relented Hermione. Just tell us already."

"Vet. Magical Veterinarian to be precise."

Everyone looked at him like he had grown a second head. Maybe even a third.

"You, said Ron as he gestured at Harry. Harry Potter, want to be some sort of doctor for magical creatures ?"

"Yes, said Harry with his eyebrows raised. Why ?"

"B-But you are, stuttered Daphne. Well you're you ! You're powerful, even more powerful than Albus Dumbledore from what I saw. You could be anything you want !"

"And I want to take care of animals."

"Don't you want to be some sort of adventurer, asked Ron in disbelief. Something more exciting ?"

The young man looked at him straight in the eyes. Even the others felt the intensity of the stare. It was filled with bad memories and sadness. So immensely sad.

"I've had enough excitement for the rest of my life, replied Harry. And I thought I'd always have to fight to stay alive, to earn a living and now I don't... Animals and magical creatures bring me a peace I can't feel in the company of humans, or any sentient specie. And I like peace."

Sensing that the discussion took a dark turn, Harry turned to the others and gave them a big smile.

"What about you, guys ?"

"I'm going to be a professional Quidditch player, said Ron with a huge grin on his face. The best player ever !"

Hermione rolled her eyes. She knew Ron wanted to play for the Chudley Canons, but she still wished he had a backup plan.

"I aim to improve Muggleborns lives in Wizarding Britain, so I'll probably be working in the Ministry."

"I want to be an Herbologist, said Neville with a small red tint of his face. Maybe an Herbology teacher."

"There's nothing to be ashamed, replied Tracey with a bright smile. It's awesome that you have something you're willing to dedicate your life for. You're a prodigy at herbology, I'm sure you'll become a wonderful teacher. I don't even know what I want to do yet."

"Well, said Daphne as she counted on her fingers. You wanted to be an Auror, a Hit-Witch, a Curse-Breaker, a cloth-shop owner, an Enchantress, a Mind-Healer... Make up your mind Trace."

"Yeah, yeah, answered Tracey as she blew Daphne a rasperry. Easy for you to say. You always knew what you wanted to do."

The blond beauty looked smugly at her friend and pushed her hair behind her ear.

"Of course I do. I can't waste my potential. I'm going to be the best Ministress of Magic that ever lived. But first I want to try myself at Healing, like my mother."

"You know, said Harry with a finger on his chin. It keeps blowing my mind. The fact that you can literally be whatever you want. You don't know the luck you have. I mean, it's a given for you, but back in my world, it's so rare."

"It wasn't always like that, replied Hermione. At least in the Muggle world. I don't want to speak for the Wizarding world, but for non magicals, it's rather recent. For a long time, it was like in your world. You just did the same job as your father and your father before him. Even the fact that women can work is pretty recent all things considered."

"Hold up, interrupted Harry. You mean to tell me that women didn't work before ?"

"No, she said as he shook her head. They were supposed to stay at home and be housewives."

"That's... Strange. I mean, I don't want to disrespect your history, but you got to admit that preventing half of the population from working is not the best way to be productive."

"It's a bit complicated, said Tracey. I'm a half blood so I have a bit of knowledge about the Muggle History, but to summarise it's something to do with religions and popular beliefs. It would take to long to explain and we're almost at King's Cross."

"It's okay, said Harry with a smile. You will have to tell me about it during the holidays."

"Great, she said sarcastically. Just what I wanted to do with my free time. Teach you about History."

"History is important, said Harry in a weird voice. It helps us avoid the mistakes of the past and teach us how we got here."

"Whaaa-"

"It's what my father used to tell me. For a guy who couldn't remember his own name, he remembered his people's tale to perfection."

When they got out of the train, they bid each others their goodbyes and promised to write at least one letter before the party. The platform nine and three quarter was littered with fireplace that witches and wizards could use to Floo back home. Ron and Hermione used one of those to Floo to the Burrow and Neville went to see his grandma. She was a tall witch, and despite her old age, she carried herself straight and with a sense of nobility. Harry noticed that she kept herself aware of her surroundings, just like any warrior should. The most noticeable detail about her was her large hat, with a stuffed vulture on it.

"Guys, this is My grandmother, Dowager Augusta Longbottom. Grandmother, this is my friends, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis and Harry Potter. Unfortunately, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger already left to see their families."

"Greetings, she said with small curtsey. My grandson told me a lot about you. I must confess, I was not happy that he chose to surround himself with Slytherins at first, but he managed to convince me. I had a lovely chat with your Father, Lord Greengrass a week ago. We will be coming at the party."

"Thank you for your kind words, Dowager Longbottom, replied Daphne. Neville is a great person and an even greater friend. We are all happy to consider him as such."

"You are welcome. Miss Davis, a pleasure to meet you. Lord Potter, likewise."

Harry bowed accordingly.

"The pleasure is all mine, replied the Soldier. You will have to forgive me for any misteps from my part. I am not very completely familiar with this world's nobility customs."

"I am aware of that, said the old lady with a small smile. I do hope however that you will refrain from crashing a royal wedding in this world."

Harry rubbed his neck sheepishly. His friends looked at him with wide eyes. What kind of life did their friend lived ?

"So Lord Greengrass told you about this. I will try my best to refrain from repeating such a behavior."

"I would like to hear more about that in the future. Have a pleasant day."

"Likewise, said the teenagers."

The Longbottoms left with those parting words and soon the Greengrass family arrived from one of the fireplace.

"I told you, said Astoria as she spotted hersister with her friends. We're not late."

"But we would have been, scolded her mother. When I say come down in five minutes, I don't mean ten."

"Good evening everyone, said Duncan cheerfully, How was your trip ?"

Daphne ran towards her father and gave him a big hug. Tracey followed her and greeted her friend's family. Harry picked the girls' trunks and joined them.

"Hello Duncan, he said as he gave his friend a friendly hug. Annabelle, good to see you again. Tori', always a pleasure."

"Good evening Harry, replied Annabelle after she hugged Tracey. How are you ?"

"Oh, great. Hogwarts is awesome. There's just something I wanted to ask you, real quick."

"Sure, replied the Greengrass patriarch. ask away !"

With a quickness only Harry was able to achieve, the young man grabbed Duncan's head and locked it under his armpit.

"Why the fuck did you tell Augusta Longbottom about the story with Amanda, he asked as he ruffled his friend's hair. You know she's a pureblood ! It could have ended really bad, you idiot !"

The women stared at the two grown men fighting like children with blank faces. They were not prepared to face such a childish display from grown up Lords. They expected that from kids in a sandbox, not from two deadly warriors.

"Shouldn't we like, separate them, asked Tracey in a neutral tone."

"Leave them be, replied Annabelle, they'll have their due once we're home."

"What's this story about Harry crashing a royal wedding anyway, inquired Astoria. Do you think he saved a princess like in the stories ?"

"Harry and a princess, snorted Daphne. The guy hardly have any manners. What kind of princess would want to be with him."

"I don't know, argued her sister. He's hot, he's kind, powerful. He saved you from a group of Trolls ! He's like a knight in shining armour !"

Daphne remembered the suit of armour Harry wore when he saved her the first time they met. White, shining, intimidating. Beautiful.

"He's definitely got a shining armour, but he's far from a knight. Okay that's it, I'm stopping them now, the other families are looking at us."

She strode to her father and her friend and grabbed them both by their shirt.

"Enough, you too, she scolded. Both of you enter the fireplace and Floo back home ! Now !"

There was something in her voice that made the two men shiver and they stopped their fighting. Without a word, they grabbed the trunks from the students and rushed to the nearest fireplace.

"Damn, said Harry with a pale face. Are all the women in your family that scary when they're angry ?"

"Yes, replied the older man,equally as pale. All of them. You never believed me back then. You do now ?"

"Man, I'm so glad it's you and not me who's married with Annabelle."

"She's too old for you anyway. Although you do have a thing for older women. As in way older."

"Shut up."

For the second time of his life, Harry arrived at Greengrass Manor. The house was still as beautiful and clean as last time. He was showed to his room by a visibly excited Astoria. She was so thrilled to tell her friends in school that the Boy-Who-Lived stayed at her place for the holidays.

The guest room he was settled in was very neutral. White wallpaper, a few paintings on the wall, a desk, a four poster bed, a nightstand with a small lamp and a wardrobe. It was not designed to be very personal. The guests will be spending most of their time with the hosts anyway.

Once his baggage was unpacked, Harry left his room and made his way to the living room. It was a cosy place, with lots of armchairs, sofas and coffee tables. Duncan was already there, sipping his glass of Firewhiskey in an armchair.

Harry let himself fall in the nearest one and grabbed the other glass on the coffee table. He then poured himself a large glass of liquor and held his glass in front of him. Duncan cheered with his friend.

"You look tired, said Harry. And not the good kind of tired."

"Yeah, I know, replied Duncan as he ran his hand through his hair. I have to get caught up with all the work I left pending for a year here. You wouldn't believe the amount of letters one Head of a Noble and Most Ancient House receive."

"I think I can actually. However, I got to admit that I received much more pleasant letters than you probably did."

"Such as ?"

"Offer to fuck, date or marry, for exemple."

"Did you accept any of those offer ?"

"Of course not, snorted Harry. You know damn well I wouldn't."

"Why, asked Duncan. I know you're hurt, but maybe it wouldn't hurt as much without blueballs."

"I'm not going to accept an offer to shag from a stranger who sent a letter ! Not now, not never. You know it's not the right time for me !"

Their "man talk" was cut short by a series of coughs coming from behind them. They turned to see the four women staring at them, looking rather pissed.

"H-Hi Ladies, tried Harry with a smile that didn't reached the eyes. What a lovely evening, don't you think ?"

"Are we disturbing you in your ever so important discussion perhaps, asked Annabelle."

"Not at all, said Duncan with a fake cheerful expression. It was just an inside joke between us. You know, something from the War..."

"Yeah, exactly ! It's a very long story and really boring. It's not even that funny now that I think about it. Right, Duncan ?"

"Totally. Definitely not worth the time it would take us to tell you the story."

"I find it hard to believe, said Tracey with a predatory smile. You're not trying to corrupt our little Harry aren't you ?"

Duncan's jaw it the floor when he heard his daughter's best friend words.

"Me ? Corrupt him ? It's the opposite, he's the sick one ! You should hear what he did during his life ! That guy is worse than a monster !"

"I don't like where this is going, said Harry as he got up. I'll be outside."

He zoomed past everyone and left the room, leaving Duncan at the mercy of his family.

Choose your battles my friends, choose your battles...

Glad to have dodged this bullet, Harry went outside of the house to have a quick smoke. The night had fallen, and the pale crescent moon was rising above the trees surrounding the house. He was only wearing a jacket made out of a strange leather stuffed with a snow-white fur, but he could barely feel the cold around him. The only lights were the embers from his cigarette, dancing in the dark and a small garden lamp a few meters on his right.

He heard footsteps coming from inside and turned to see Daphne, wearing a woolly white pullover and black jeans. She opened the door and crossed her arms around her to protect herself from the biting air of December.

"Aren't you cold, she asked as a shiver went down her spine. It's freezing."

"Nah, he replied. My jacket is made from a fire wyvern I hunted when I was fifteen and the fur is from an Arctic Blood Wolf I killed during a trip in the mountains. The fucker almost took my arm. So I took his fur. Fair trade."

The young woman shook her head and conjured a warm blanket to wrap herself in.

"Is there a monster you didn't kill, she asked jokingly."

"I sure hope so, replied Harry as he blowed a drag of smoke. It would be a sad achievement. I never liked killing, but sometimes you don't have a choice. It's not about what is wrong or right. It's about survival. And those who claim otherwise are either hypocrites or never had to defend theirselves in a desperate situation."

A few seconds passed without any of them saying anything. The blanket did its job as the blond beauty stopped shivering.

"You never continued your story, she stated."

"No, I didn't, he replied."

"Why ?"

Once again, a simple question. How she managed to crack his shell with simple inquiries was beyond him. Maybe it was the way she asked it, or the fact that she followed him in the cold night.

"Never had the opportunity. I don't like to talk about me that much. But it helps. A lot. Last time, it felt like a weight got lifted of my chest."

"But it's still heavy, isn't it ?"

He didn't have to answer. It was obvious. Whatever happened had left a mark on him.

Sometimes he felt empty, as if a bottomless pit had settled inside of his heart. Sometimes it was the other way around. He wanted to burn everything, raze mountains, and cry until his tears dried out. It was like he was back on a ship, sailing through the calm sea. Despite the lack of clouds, he knew that a tempest would come. He just never knew when.

"Everyone have his or her burden, he said in a puff of smoke. I'm not special in that regard. Mine is not heavier, just different than yours."

"But you can share it, you know. When you're getting tired, when it's dragging you down. I didn't and look what it costed me. I almost lost my best friend, I shut myself out of the world. Maybe if I accepted the extended hand, it would have been easier."

Silence fell once again. Harry banished his smoke and conjured another one. He could feel the disaproving eyes of Daphne on the back of his head but didn't care. If he was about to talk, he would need something to calm his mind.

"When... When I arrived in the nearest city, I was ecstatic. There was so much to do, to see. Unfortunately, they were not very happy to see a Warg strolling down the main street. So they called the guards.

When they got here, they were confused as to why there was a kid riding a beast. They began to ask me questions, and I was equally lost. It never occurred to me that Quickfang would be treated like that. Now it sound obvious but back then I never even thought about it.

After a couple of minutes, they ordered me to come with them back at the barracks. I was a bit scared to be honest. One of them went inside to report to their superior and the others surrounded us. I had to keep talking to Quickfang to calm him down. He felt the hostility all around him and his instinct was shouting at him to fight or flee."

He stopped to take another drag on his cigarette and formulate his thoughts.

"Then this old man comes out of the barracks. He was covered in armour, except for his head and had a sheathed sword on his waist. All the guards saluted and he dismissed them all. They wanted to argue but apparently his orders were absolute so they obeyed. He had this huge mustache on his face and there was a gust of wind and it blew his hair across his face. It made me laugh, and he stared at me like I was some sort of mad man. Mad boy rather. Apparently, he was the general of the army. As in, the man in charge of the army of an entire fucking country. He assumed I knew who he was and probably expected me to be all scared.

So he introduced himself as Segis Gerlain, General of Eolis. He was really curious about how I managed to tame a Warg at such a young age. So I explained to him that he was not my pet. It took a while to make him understand that Quickfang was not a menace and that he would not cause any trouble. He offered to provide me a place to stay for a while if I told him all about me. Looking back now, it could have been desastrous to accept. It could have gone wrong in a lot of ways. But it didn't. He kept his word and let us stay in one of the rooms. In exchange I met with him every day. Ved'hel and the Angels told me to keep a low profile about my ability to cast War Magic so I told him that I never learned any Domain."

He paused to gather his thoughts and exhale another drag of smoke. Daphne was listening to him with rapt attention, hanging to his every words. Harry had a certain way to tell a story that made it fascinating. He could have been talking about the most boring task such as folding laundry but if you listened to him, you would think of it as a life-changing adventure.

"You see, everyone in Ulcide can use magic, as I told you before. But you have to learn it first. Ulcidians have a wide range of magical potentials. Some are so magically weak, they could be described as Squibs in your world, while some are immensely powerful. And most of the times, people don't bother to teach a weak kid their Domain. They see it as a waste of time and efforts. Hence the fact that some people are Domainless. Anyway, Segis and I would meet every day. He was gobsmacked when he realised that I could hold my own against him in a sword fight. I was not as strong as he was, of course. I was only a ten years old kid, but I was pretty fast, and my fighting style was something he never saw before. He had fought in a lot of wars, battled many creatures, and sparred against warriors from all horizons, but never encountered anyone who fought like I did.

He used to tell me that when I fought, it was like-"

"A song."

He turned to the young woman who was sitting at the doorstep, wrapped in a blanket. She had her knees close to her chest and her chin was resting on top of them.

"How do you know, he asked with an eyebrow raised."

She looked at him with a confused expression.

"I saw you fight against those Trolls, she reminded him. It was strange. I don't quite know how to explain it, but it felt musical, almost as if the fight was scripted."

Harry nodded in agreement.

" _Lilta-va Paltha,_ said the raven haired Soldier."

The wind seemed to howl in pleasure as the words travelled with it. Far away, Daphne heard birds singing, despite the late hour. The trees hummed with satisfaction. She felt a wave of bliss surge through her as the sentence repeated in her mind.

"Wh- What was that, stuttered the young woman in awe. What did you do ?"

"I spoke, he replied cheekily. It roughly translate to "Dance of Blades" in Elvish. I'm a bit rusty and humans were not created to speak such a divine language, so my words are not as enthrancing as Father's, but you get the drift."

The former Ice Queen was speechless in front of such a display of power and grace. He was able to influence the world around him with mere words, and he said that his adoptive father spoke this tongue even more beautifuly...

"There are things I don't know, said the young Soldier. And never will. The clear distinction between Good and Evil, how are people sorted in Heaven or Hell, what happens next... All of that I'll never know. But I once heard that the first gift from God to Elves was Music. And I truly believe that. I believe that amongst all of their miraculous gifts, despite their beauty and grace comparable to Angels, despite their longevity, their most treasured possession was their voices and the Songs they could sing with it.

Music hold an important place in Elvish culture. Their very tongue is musical, but most importantly, they Sing. Singing with a capital S. They used to Sing when one of them was born, when one them died, when they went to battle... And the Dance of Blades is a testament to that. Ved'hel taught me that every battle is a blank sheet of music. The fighters are the players and the instruments both. The weapons are merely the quill with which you write the notes. Each movement is a beat, a note, a sigh. That's why it feels like music."

The old Elf would have probably kicked his ass for his crude description of their art. To be fair, Ved'hel would have droned on and on about the intricacies of the _Lilta-va Paltha_ , But Harry didn't want to take Daphne through a crash course of Elven Swordsmanship.

Harry finished his cigarette and banished it. He figured that the others were probably waiting for them inside to start dinner and didn't want to keep them from their food for too long.

"How could you live like that, asked Daphne with a quivering voice. How did you managed to stay sane when you were surrounded with beings that are so... So... I don't even know how to describe them. You were raised by an Elf, someone who could make the world stop dead in its tracks with mere words and by Angels... How ?"

He helped her to her feet and smile warmly. His smile turned to a grin then he burst out laughing. The young woman was at loss. Maybe he wasn't sane, after all ?

"If I tell you, he replied with a smirk. You have to promise me to keep it a secret. For real."

She nodded with expectation and gulped. Never had she wanted to know something as much as she did right now.

He looked around him for good measure then leaned forward. Daphne turned her ear toward him, holding her breath.

"I saw Dusk shitting behind a bush when I was seven."

 **AN : Wuss popping readers. It's me, Aldrek. I'm really proud of this chapter. I liked writing it, liked correcting it, liked starting it three times over. Anyway, thanks to keyblademeister88 for your review and your support since the beginning. You rock. Thanks also to Duncandonut4u for his PM and his input on the story.**

 **I recieved a few messages telling me that Harry was a bit too open with his feelings and his story, especially since he was telling it to a whole group of person instead of one. I agree that it was probably off putting. I took your advice and will probably keep those conversations private, between one or two people at most. It makes more sense.**

 **About the Lilta-va Paltha, I borrowed some concept from _Demons War_ from R.A Salvatore. I really liked those books and always found the Bi'nelle Dasada so cool that I wanted to give it a place in my story, albeit modified. The words comes from Quenya, the high elf language that Tolkien invented, so all the credits goes to him. I merely googled the words.**

 **The last thing I wanted to ask you guys about is about the chapter's length. Most of them are around 5K words long. Do you think they are too long, too short or about the right length ? According to what you guys think, I might consider some modifications. Don't worry, I wont force myself to write longer or shorter chapters but a few hundreds words are not that big a deal. The most important part is that I'm really glad that I started this story, I'm loving it and your feedback play an important role in that.**

 **Tell me what you thought about this chapter in the reviews, and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	10. Chapter Nine : It's Hard To Be Normal

**DISCLAIMER : I do not own Harry Potter or any work referenced in this story.**

 **Chapter Ten : It's Hard To Be Normal...**

Harry felt something push his right leg and groaned in his half slumber. When the push got more insistent, he groaned louder.

" 'eave me 'lone, he mumbled."

He heard a feminine giggle followed by yet another tug on his leg.

" 'ive more minutes Dawn..."

He could heard a voice say something but could not discern what it said. When no one tried to wake him again, he thought that he could back to sleep. Until he felt a wave of cold water soak his head.

He awoke gasping for air, looking disheveled. He had his eyes wide open and his vision was blurry for a moment. He felt a slight headache, but otherwise he was fine.

Harry stood still for a moment until the memories of last night came back to him. The lovely dinner with the whole family, the delicious cake Duncan had bake, the first glass of Firewhiskey he had with his friend when everyone had left to go to sleep. Then the second glass. Followed by another bottle. Running in their underwears in the garden. Wait, what ?

"Good morning sunshine, said Tracey while she held her phone."

He saw a bright flash and tried to cover his face with his hand but to no avail.

"The fuck is going on, he asked as he furrowed his brows."

"You drunkards passed out in the living room, explained Annabelle with her hands on her hips."

Harry looked around him, and indeed, it did look like they had a little party. A dozen bottles were spread across the living room, on the coffee tables, on the floor. One was still in Duncan's arms as he kept snoring away. The Greengrass patriarch was sprawled on a couch, hugging an empty bottle of Tequila. The bastard let Harry sleep on an armchair.

"Ah."

"Ah indeed, said Daphne with the same tone of voice and posture as her mother. Now get up ! We've got to wake Dad."

"Don't bother, sighed Annabelle. He sleeps like a log when he's in that state. During our honeymoon, we went for some drinks in a bar and when we got back to the hotel, I couldn't wake him until three in the afternoon."

"Oh, exclaimed Harry as he jumped up staggering a bit. I've got a technique."

"Then, please. By all means."

He groggily made his way to the couch then tapped his foot on the ground repeatedly. It was a rythm of some sort. The ladies looked at each other, confused as to what was going on. Then Harry opened his mouth.

" _Oh, you can search, far and wide-_ "

He barely had the time to finish the first line of the song before Duncan raised up like a vampire and still half asleep joined in the singing.

" _You can drink the whole town dry_ , shouted the older wizard with a drowsy voice."

" _But you'll never find a beer so brown...As the one we drink in our hometown !"_

"He's all yours, mumbled Harry as he got away to get a shower."

"You will have to teach me that, shouted Annabelle."

"Not so loud, cried Duncan as he gripped his head. God damn it."

Harry felt like a different man after a hot shower. His headache had receded, but he still had the usual feeling of stiffness caused by a night of heavy drinking and passing out on an armchair.

He went downstairs to join the others for breakfast. It was almost noon and the only reason no one woke them up earlier was that nobody was awake before that. Who would wake up that early on the first day of holidays ?

In the dining room, the whole household was eating breakfast happily. Except for Duncan who had his head in his hands, trying to munch some toasts.

"Look who's here, greeted Tracey. We thought you fell asleep in the shower."

"I didn't take that long, argued Harry as he sat down in an empty chair. Will you pass me the coffee pot ?"

"Here, she replied as she gave him the precious drink. I wish we could eat together at Hogwarts too..."

"Well, began Harry as he poured himself a large mug of coffee. Albus told me that he wanted to do something about that next year. He'll have to speak with the board of Governors first, but it shouldn't pose any problems. He intend to make a proper common room for all the Houses too. So we won't have to use the old classroom anymore."

"Why the change of heart, asked Daphne. He never did anything to prevent conflicts before."

"A lot can change in ten years, replied Harry. We all learned that sometimes, it's necessary to change things and look past our differences for the Greater Good as he would say. Most people think that Slytherins are Dark and Gryffindors are Light, but when you fight actual Demons side by side with people from all horizons, it give some perspective about what you believed to be true."

He took a sip of his mug and sighed in satisfaction. The little pleasures in life.

"You have to stop doing that, said Daphne as she shook her head."

"What, he asked with an eyebrow raised. Drinking coffee ?"

"No, you idiot ! Dropping life lessons like it's nothing and then go back to what you were doing ! How do you expect us to react ?"

"I don't know, he replied a bit confused. You can do anything you want about what I tell you. I'm not some kind of guide. What do you expect me to do ? I don't want my drink to get cold."

"You know, said Astoria as she stared at her phone and scrolled trhough the photos she had taken. You're cute when you sleep."

"Thank you Tori, he said with a little smile. I'm sure you're adorable too."

"Isn't he a little too old for you, Astoria, teased Tracey. I mean, he's technically 27, you know ?"

"Come on, replied Harry with a laugh. Can't two people compliment each others without any ulterior motives ?"

"I guess, said Daphne. It's just not that common. When I was in my magical school, the one before Hogwarts, I made the mistake to tell one of the boys in my class that he had an handsome face. He figured that it meant that I was interested in him and kept pestering me to be his girlfriend."

"Ah yes, said Annabelle. That Zacharias Smith. I had to contact his parents. The boy would not understand that no means no."

"Yeah, I see what you mean, sighed Harry. Casual conversations and a few kind words don't mean that someone is interested in you. It's being nice. You wouldn't believe the problems we had at the beggining of the War."

"Such as ?"

"Well, I wasn't there when this one happened. I was... Busy. But Albus told me about it. As much as I love my homeworld, and to flaunt his merits, I'm forced to admit that not everyone was nice. One of the nobles had set his sight on an American witch. He had helped her in battle a few hours before and he assumed that she would just accept his offer to share his bed for the night. She tried to refuse politely but this arrogant piece of shit wouldn't hear any of it. So he tried to force her. Albus had to step in to calm the situation. In the end, he had to knock him unconscious."

"Woaw, said Astoria. I never imagined that someone would try something like that next to a bunch of Angels."

"Yeah, sighed the young warrior. The old goat-"

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to Duncan.

"Duncan ?"

The wizard groaned as an answer.

"Where is the goat ?"

The women at the table looked at them with confusion. The goat ? What the hell were they talking about this time ?

At this exact moment, they heard a loud bleat coming from the hallway and saw a goat running past the dining room.

"Never mind, said Harry as he got up. Found it."

"Why is this animal in my house, cried out Annabelle. You better explain yourselves !"

"Just a minute, shouted back Harry as he ran after the four legged catastrophe."

Thanks to his incredible natural speed, he caught it in an insant and carried it in his strong arms. The goat seemed to have just woken up and had panicked when she realised that she was in a place she had never seen.

Harry was whispering soothing words in the ear of the terrified animal, trying to calm it down. When it didn't work, he sighed and leaned forward. The others never heard what he said, but could feel the wave of calming energy from where they were sitting. It was as if all of their worries had disappeared for a moment, washed away to be replaced by the image of a smiling Harry, scratching the head of the goat. Even Duncan seemed to look a little better thanks to the soothing aura the young warrioir exhuded.

"How did you do that, asked Tracey with a wide eyes."

"Elvish words have power behind them, he explained. So I talked to her, I guess. I'll bring her back where she belong now. I believe we took her from the farm in the next village so I'll be right back."

Taking advantage that they were too stunned to ask any more questions, Harry ran away to bring the unfortunate animal back home.

Once outside, he used his Enhancement magic on his legs to run to his destination faster. The familiar white runic circle appeared around his legs and he took off at an alarming speed.

Once he arrived at the edge of the forest, he cancelled his spell. It would have been hard to explain why he was able to run as fast as a car on an highway. He spotted the road that lead to the village and began walking on the sides of it. A few minutes later he could see the outskirt of the small town and the picket fence of the enclosure from the farm.

Harry looked around him to be sure that no one could see him and dropped the poor goat inside.

"You live a good life now, he said as he affectionately scratched the animal's head."

The goat bleated and took off.

Harry turned around and began walking back to the manor while stretching his arms. Believe it or not, carrying a goat over two kilometers put a strain on you.

He smoked a cigarette on the way back and banished the ashes as he went. It was one thing to pollute his body with this shit, but a whole different matter to do the same with nature.

Once he got back to the gates of the house, he took a deep breath. Duncan and him had really pushed it since they got reunited yesterday, and he was expecting a strict admonition from his friend's wife, Soldiers or not.

He entered the house by the door he used yesterday to smoke and where Daphne joined him. He could almost smell the incoming doom.

As soon as Harry entered the dining room, his instinct screamed at him to run for his life. Instead, he "bravely" decided to take the scolding like a man.

"Sit, ordered Annabelle as she pointed down to a chair next to his brother in arms."

His cheeks burning, he sat down without a fuss and braced himself.

Tracey, Daphne and Astoria were all at the doorstep, trying their best to be sneaky. The attempt was completely ruined, as they kept trying to push each others to have a better view.

The matriarch sat down in front of them and joined her hands in front of her mouth.

"Can you imagine my reaction when I woke up this morning, and realised that my husband was not in bed with me. Even worse, when he decided to get drunk with his friend, trash the living room, bring a goat, and pass out on the couch rather than go to bed !"

If Harry had a deathwish, he could have added running in their underwears in the garden to the list but wisely decided to shut up.

"I get it, she continued. You two are close friends, you fought together for ten years. You went through Hell and back. But it doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want in this house ! You live here Duncan, but so do Astoria, Daphne and I. We've got Tracey living with us as a guest, act like it."

"Maybe you guys could check with a Mind Healer, she suggested. To deal with... Whatever problems you guys have."

"We don't need a Mind Healer, denied Harry."

"Yeah, added Duncan. We need time, comfort, and booze. A lot of booze. And Harry needs a woman."

"I don't need a woman, denied Harry once again through gritted teeth. I'm perfectly fine on my own."

"Even you don't believe that, breathed Duncan."

"Why don't you give it a try, asked Annabelle. The Mind Healers, I mean. I can get you in contact with a lot of them at St. Mungo."

"Don't bother, replied Duncan. What could they do ? Are they trained to deal with people who actually went "through Hell and back", as you said ?"

Annabelle put a hand over mouth when she heard that. The girls, still gathered at the doorstep looked at each others with wide eyes.

"You mean..."

"How do you think we closed the Doors of Hell ? Asking nicely ?"

"So you too, she said with a shaken voice. Actually went in Hell ?"

"I held back the reinforcement in front of the Doors, explained Duncan. But Harry went inside to close them."

"Enough, interjected the young man. It's not the point. We're fine on our own, it will just take us some time to adapt to civilisation once more. In the mean time, we'll try our best to... Not trash your living room again."

"And I promise that I'll sleep in our bed next time, swore Duncan."

Annabelle's expression had softened greatly when she heard them. Her husband, the man she loved and married, the father of their beautiful daughters, had changed. He was still the happy go lucky man she met, but there was a sadness in his eyes that never seemed to go away now. She was not really that pissed to be honest. She just wanted them to learn their lesson.

While Duncan had his family to support him, and slowly heal him from the mental wounds he had suffered, the young man in front of her didn't. Sure, he had friends. He had brothers and sisters in arms. But his family...

"Fine, she ended up saying. You guys can go and clean your mess."

They got up and walked out of the room, glaring at he group of young woman trying to look inconspicuous. Seeing that it was pointless, Astoria smugly stood up.

"So, she began. What did you boys learned of your mistakes ?"

"Don't piss your wife off, said Duncan."

"Don't bring a goat and make it drink, said Harry at the same time."

Realising his mistake, the young Soldier coughed.

"What he said, he ended up saying."

Once they had cleaned the room (without magic as a punishment) they gathered around for lunch.

They were busy eating the main course, when Harry put down his cutlery and swallowed his mouthful of lamb chop.

"I wanted to thank you, he began. About letting us hold the party here. It means a lot."

"It's alright, she waved him off. You have to celebrate your return."

He shook his head and wiped his mouth with his towel.

"It may be no big deal for you, he said with warm smile. But for us, it is. So thank you once again."

"Consider this my thanks for saving Daphne's life."

The young woman blushed a bit when her mother remembered her about the attack. The sessions with the Mind Healer from St. Mungo had done a great job and she no longer had nightmares about Trolls chasing her down. Actually, the reason she blushed was become she had an "interesting" dream about her raven haired savior two days ago. Not that she would admit it, of course. You can't control what happens in your dreams, right ?

"I was not alone, answered Harry humbly. But I'm sure Albus appreciate the gesture too."

On the other side of the table, the three young women were discussing among themselves.

"I feel like I'm back to being twelve, said Tracey with a sigh. The "grown ups" are talking between themselves."

"I know, exclaimed Astoria. What's the next step ? Are they going to put a smaller table on the side and ask us to sit there on our own ?"

She sighed and pulled out her phone. Normally, Annabelle would have rebuked her for using her phone while they were sitting together, but the "adults" were in a heated argument about the colour of the table clothes for the party.

She mechanically started to scroll down her huge list of photos and videos until she stumbled on the video she took when they were trying to wake Harry up. The look on his face when her mother hit him with an Aguamenti on the face. Priceless. She tapped her screen and began to watch the video.

"Do you girls know what he said here, she asked to her sister and her best friend. Just before Mum drop the water on his face."

"Let me see, said Tracey as she leaned forward and placed her ear next to the speaker."

She narrowed her eyes in concentration. It was one of those stupid mindless acts you did sometimes, like turning down the radio in order to spot a parking place easier.

"I think... Five more minutes Dawn."

"Dawn, asked Astoria with an eyebrow raised. Who's that ? His girlfriend ?"

"I'm not sure, replied Daphne as she shook her head. All we know is that she is or was an Angel, she was around a lot when he was a kid and he had a crush on her. He always seems to avoid the subject when we mention her."

"Yeah, added Tracey. Something must have happened. We don't know why, but he don't talk about it. We're not going to force him. I doubt they were a couple though. I mean, she's an Angel and he's... Well he's Harry ! The guy passed out drunk on the couch !"

"I don't know, replied Astoria. My relationship-sense is tingling."

"Cut the crap, said Daphne as she rolled her eyes."

"Look, said Tracey as she jerked her head towards the other group. They're done."

"Astoria, said Annabelle. Your phone. Not on the table."

"Yes mum, replied the teenager as she pocketed her device."

Harry took a sip from his glass of wine and smacked his lips. He was not really into wines, but even he had to admit that it was a good one.

"Do you always plan a party this carefully in your world, he ended up asking. 'Cause that's a lot of trouble..."

"What do you mean, replied Annabelle with her head tilted. Of course we plan a party carefully. Especially since there is going to be around two hundred people !"

When Duncan had told her the number of expected guest, she almost fell off her chair. She knew there would be a lot of people, but two hundred and thirty...

"I get it, said Harry. But I've never done that before so I'm kinda confused."

"You never went to a party before, asked Astoria with wide eyes. No way !"

"Harry not attending a party, snorted Duncan. Oh, sweetie. You should have seen what we got up to during our time off in the War."

"Yeah, added the green eyed Soldier. Dwarves sure knew how to have fun..."

He sighed and looked at his glass sadly.

"We'll honour their memory, said Duncan. We'll show everyone that there's no party like a dwarf party."

"Dwarves, asked Tracey. Like in the fantasy books ?"

"I could spend the entire afternoon talking about them, replied Harry with a smile. Sadly, none of them are left. The last one gave his life in the last battle."

"What's a dwarf party like, asked Astoria."

The two Soldiers look at each others and grinned wildly.

"You can't describe it, said Duncan. You have to be there !"

"True, agreed Harry. Everyone is singing. Badly. People are dancing on the tables, You can't take two steps before one of them put a mug of beer in your hand... You remember the song I used to wake your dad ? Well, It's your father's favorite. Those songs are like a rallying cry. When you hear a Dwarven song, you know shit's about to get real."

"You have to do something about your language young man, admonished Annabelle."

"Sorry, replied the said young man sheepishly. Anyway, you will see at the party."

Once lunch was over, Harry retreated to his room to take a nap. However, once he was laying on his bed, sleep seemed to avoid him. After a couple of minutes of tossing and turning, he finally gave up and laid on his back.

With a sigh, he began to stare at the ceiling. Absentmindedly, he reached for his necklace. Realising what he was holding, he took of the piece off jewelry and looked at it lovingly. It was a small silver locket, with a matching chain. However, it wasn't the locket that was precious but what was inside.

During his travels and the War, he gathered a lot of riches, enough to let him leave like a king here. But he would gladly trade all of them for this necklace and the oddly shaped cloth package in his trunk.

"I wonder if you would be ashamed of what I've become now, he asked out loud. Would you still love me if you were here ?"

Unfortunately, only silence was his answer.

He fell asleep shortly after, unaware of the small tear that he shed just before slumber claimed him.

The following day, Harry woke up at his usual time. Dawn. He took advantage of the forest to train hard. He had skipped training yesterday, and he felt as if he had let down Ved'hel. When he came back home, it was already eight, which made the fact that Duncan was already awake very surprising.

"I didn't think you'd already be up and about, said Harry when he dropped in a chair next to his friend."

"You're not the only one who needs to train you know, replied the older wizard. Voldemort is still alive. Even worse, he's being trained by Lucifer. Eventually, we'll have to fight once again. But this time, we will not let them have their way."

Harry nodded, determined to prevent another world to fall against the Legions of Hell.

"Any news about his whereabouts or any of his plans ?"

"None that I'm aware of. Albus have his entire spy network on full alert, but no luck this far. There have been some rumors that he was in Albania but it was a bust."

The young warrior sighed in resignation.

"I guess we'll have to wait for him to make a move. I hate this situation. At least during the War it was straightforward."

"I see what you mean, agreed Duncan. It was us against them. But now, we have to prevent another Demonic War before it even begins."

"Remind me why we can't just tell everyone of what's coming ? It would be easier."

"Because, answered Duncan. You know we would follow you to the end of the world. Any of us would. But the people here, don't know you. The real you. You're just the Boy-Who-Lived here. You're supposed to have killed Voldemort. They take his death for granted. If you tell them that he's not, they'd have a hard time believing you. We have to build a power base first. Hence the fact that we're keeping it under wrap."

"Let's hope that we can do that before it's too late, said Harry ominously."

Silence fell over the discussion. Both were deep in thoughts. Duncan was worried that people would call them crazy, that the War had made them insane. He knew that sometimes, people preferred to bury their head in the sand rather than see the truth.

Harry had a different problem. He was afraid that he would have to kill other people. He had done it already, but the prospect of having to kill someone, even to save a lot of lives still left a bitter taste in his mouth. He would do it, but he would not like it. Not one bit.

"Hey, called Duncan to pull them both out of their thoughts. Wanna spar ?"

"You call it sparring, asked Harry sarcastically."

"No need to be snarky, replied the older wizard. I need a few pointers. I haven't trained with my spear since we left."

"We can't have that, said the black haired warrior with a smirk. Come on. I'll make a decent warrior out of you yet."

An hour later, the rest of the household had woken up. Annabelle feared that the two men had another spent another night drinking when she realised that her husband was not in the bed with her. Fortunately (for them), she found the living room empty. She was beginning to worry when the three girls came rushing from upstairs, apparently just out of bed.

"Harry and Dad are fighting in the garden, screamed Astoria as she rushed towards her mother."

"WHAT ?"

"We saw them through the window, explained Tracey. They're fighting with spears and all !"

Not missing a beat, they began running through the house and were outside soon.

When they turned around the corner, they stopped dead in their tracks. Duncan had foregone his black shoes for combat boots, his hair tied in a ponytail. He wasn't even wearing robes, just a plain shirt, a pair of pants and a black leather jacket.

He was holding a jet black spear with both hands, its glinting blade pointed downward in his opponent's direction. His knees were bend a little, one foot slightly turned on the outside.

A few meters in front of him, Harry was in his usual outfit, holding a similar weapon. His stance was different though. He held his spear on his right side with both hands, almost completely vertically and his weapon's tip was facing behind him.

They rushed at each other quickly, then Duncan striked first. He slid his front foot forward and tried to stab Harry right in the chest, without a single moment of hesitation. The strike made him lean forward and the girls screamed in horror.

They're fright was unjustified though. Just as the strike was about to land, Harry swinged his spear forward. The shaft striked Duncan's spearhead, deflecting the blow and burrying the spear in the ground. Using the momentum he earned from his parry, Harry swatted the spear of his opponent away. This move leaved his opponent wide open for his next attack. The young warrior turned on himself and hit Duncan in the guts with the blunt end of his weapon, effectively ending the fight.

With a loud groan, Duncan fell on his back.

"Your back foot was not in the right position, said Harry in a cold voice. It needs to be in a 60 degrees angle not 90. You loose a bit of range otherwise. Remember that the Devil is in details"

"It won't happen again, replied Duncan as he held his now aching belly."

"What is going on here, asked a confused Annabelle."

"Good morning ladies, replied Harry with a smile. Just a friendly spar. We were done anyway."

The young warrior walked torwards his friend and helped him back up. Duncan smiled and nodded in thanks.

"You... I can't even... The girls told me you were fighting !"

"Oh no, answered Duncan. If we were fighting for real, I wouldn't be here anymore."

"Don't sell yourself short, said Harry. You've come a long way since you started. You're doing good. For a human."

"So you too were just training ? With real weapons ?"

"You don't truly know how to fight until you fear for your life, said Harry. It's one thing to train with wooden weapons, but you don't have the same drive to deflect a blow as when it could potentially kill you."

"Let's get breakfast, interrupted Duncan. We can talk while we eat."

"So you do that often, asked Daphne once they were sitted. Sparring, I mean."

"We used to do that almost everyday, replied Duncan as he looked to his partner."

Harry nodded, a mouthful of bacon. He was famished, don't be too hard on him.

"And Harry taught you how to fight, asked Daphne." She was curious to know if her father knew the _Lilta-va Paltha_.

"He tries to. I'm never going to be a prodigy, but I'm a decent fighter now."

"He is, added the green eyed young man. He would have lasted longer if you hadn't screamed. Even I got startled."

"Did you teach him your special style of fighting, asked Daphne once more."

Duncan recoiled when he heard her. He looked almost shocked to hear the question.

"Heaven's, no ! Even if I had the potential, I should have started to learning during my childhood. it's not as simple."

"You could have left us a message, said Annabelle. We were worried."

"Sorry, apologized the young warrior. We'll do it next time."

"Is there any more surprise we should expect from you two, asked Annabelle."

"I don't think so, replied Duncan. Look, we're sorry. We gave you a lot of trouble. It's just a question of getting used to... That. Spending time together normally."

"And I'm really grateful that you let me stay here, added Harry. I don't have anywhere to go. I'll try to find a house before summer."

"Right, said Annabelle. You're technically homeless. We'll figure it out."

"Aren't you scared, asked Astoria. I mean, not having a home would terrify me."

"Not really, shrugged the young man. I'm used to it. I lived on the road for a long time and during the War, we mostly used temporary camps. We had an HQ as they called it, but we were mostly on the field."

They kept eating happily, making small talks. Once they were done, they left the dishes on the table for the house elves to pick up. Harry had yet to see a single one of them since he got here for the holidays.

After breakfast, Daphne and Tracey decided to help Harry with his studies. The young warrior was still catching up on wand-magic and had a lot of questions. Mostly how which spells worked. They were seated in the living room, half a dozen books laying on the table.

"So, if I were to summarize, he said. Incantations and wands movements are not essentials for most spells, but they act as an amplifier for your magic ?"

"That's the gist of it, nodded Tracey. They help your magic flow and thus enable you to cast spell easier. It's like a mnemonic for your magic."

"Doesn't your kind of magic work the same way, asked Daphne."

"Yes and no, he replied. Okay, let me show you."

He got up and held his palm upward. A bright orange runic array appeared out of nowhere and floated above his hand, spinning slowly.

"This, he said as he looked at the young women. Is the spell we call "Flame spear". It's one of the easiest spell I know. As you can guess, it's a fire spell, hence the orange color of the circle. It's a Tier One spell, so it only have one layer of runes. Each and every single rune you see is required to cast the spell. if you forget one, it will probably just fizzle out of existence or if you really fuck it up, you could create a small explosion. Magic is a volatile substance after all."

Harry closed his palm and the runic circle disappeared as it came.

"Most people start by remembering the runes one by one. It's an efficient technique, but it takes time. However, if your magic is powerful enough, you can make an imprint of the spell directly in your core. But to do that you have to hold the spell long enough for your magic to "learn" it. Of course, the more powerful the spell, the longer and harder it is for you to imprint it.

So the most commonly used technique to cast spells is by the means of an Incantation, just like your magic. Each rune have a name, and by learning the chant, you know which rune come first, which come second and so on..."

The two girls nodded as he went through his explanation. It was a bit offsetting to get your head around the fact that somewhere, some people used an entirely different magic system. As if it wasn't difficult enough to get your head around the fact that magic existed in the first place.

"I wanted to know something for a while now, began Daphne. I saw you fight using a lot of different weapons. And you make them appear and disappear out of nowhere. Is it a spell too ?"

Harry shook his head.

"No, he explained. It's a specific power of the War Domain. It's called The Arsenal. You become able to use it by killing your first weapon-wielding foe in battle. Once you do, you obtain the weapon he or she was wielding as well as his or her armour. It's then stored in a personal pocket of existence. It's quite similar to your right of conquest here, except only for weaponry."

"That's sick, called out Tracey. A personal space just for your weapons ? So cool !"

"Well, replied Harry. It was not created to be cool, you know. Angels and Demons have been fighting since their creations by God and the Devil. Or so I'm told. And weapons created in Heavens are particularly powerful against Demons and vice versa. So they both created their Arsenal to store away the enemy's weapons. They can't control their production, but at least, it prevents the opposite side from just picking up the weapon of a fallen fighter."

He took a thoughtful expression and leaned forward.

"But to be honest, he said in a whisper. If they didn't wanted it to look cool, they could have done without the flashes of light and all."

The girls chuckled at the revelation. It was a bit surreal to laugh about Angels wanting to look stylish, but hey. Who doesn't like to look bad-ass ?

"Now that we had a good laugh, said Daphne after she calmed herself. Let's get back to work. Your Cheering Charms are still abysmal."

"Yes ma'am."

Later that day, after a copious meal, Harry was in his usual spot in the garden to smoke a quick one. He was silently enjoying the slightly warmer than usual weather when he heard footsteps coming from behind the glass door. He didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.

"Hey, said Daphne. Just a quick heads up, we're going out tonight to eat dinner in a restaurant in London. Everyone's taking a nap right now."

"Okay, thanks for warning me."

When she didn't leave for a couple of seconds, he finally turned around.

"Aren't you going to do the same, he asked."

Daphne shook her head, her ponytail swinging behind her.

"Nah, don't feel like it."

He shrugged then got back to his cigarette until he finished it.

"You're sure you want to spend your afternoon like that, he asked as he banished his smoke with a swish of his wand."

"Of course I do, she replied. Who wouldn't ? Compared to you, our lives seems so boring. And you still haven't began to tell me about your journey."

"Fine, he finally agreed with a sigh. Where was I already ?"

"You had met Segis Gerlain and you told me about the Dance of Blades."

"Right... So after a few days, I wanted to leave. I had set out to discover the world and so far, I only saw one city. Segis was confident that I would be able to fend off for myself. I was an able fighter, even without magic or so he thought, and I had a Warg. So he wrote a recommandation to the Merchant Guild. You see, the roads were not safe in Ulcide. You could be attacked by wild animals, monsters, and bandits. So the traders and peddlers created an institution called the Merchant Guild. They were responsible of providing the caravans and other shipments with capable guards to escort them. I talked with some of the members and it's a really tough job. You have to deal with angry merchants who want to be first on the list, find capable mercenaries, argue about the pay with said mercenaries, plan a route for the caravans and all this stuff.

So when I arrived, the lady at the counter asked me if I was lost or looking for my parents. I gave her the recommandation. I swear to God, I've never seen someone's eyebrows rise this high. In her defense, it was understandable. Even if you were considered an adult around twelve or thirteen, who would believe that a ten year old would be a proper caravan guard. So she asked me if I was ready to prove that I was indeed capable enough. I agreed. She asked one of the mercenary, this huge bulky dude if he wanted to test me. The guy laughed at her and told her to... Well to do something improper involving her mouth and his genitals."

He rubbed his neck with his hand.

"So I did something really stupid. I threw a rock at him. It was silly. I'm sure he barely felt it, with his armour and all. But it angered him alright. His colleagues were trying to calm him down, saying that I was just a kid and all that. The blockhead just pushed them away. I was scared to be honest. He had this huge great axe and all. But in the end, he was all bark and no bites. It took me five seconds. Dodged his blow, jumped and hit him on the head with the flat of my blade. After that no one bothered asking me any question."

"Did you have the Arsenal back then ?"

"No, I didn't. The sword I used was one Ved'hel gave me. It was a Elven made short sword. Very well balanced and sharp as a Deathclaw's tooth. Unfortunately, it got destroyed later on."

"What's a Deathclaw ? A monster ?"

"No, It's a kind of Demon. Demons can have multiple forms and but they each are more dangerous than the last. Dusk told me that there are as many types of Demons as there are different way of being evil."

"What do they look like ? The Deathclaws, I mean."

"They are huge, around the size of a Troll. They're covered with scales and spikes. They've got those huge, well, claws. And of course, a jaw that would put any shark to shame. And their breath... Pray you never have to meet one of them."

He shuddered slightly. If it was for comedy purposes or genuine disgust, Daphne could not tell. Maybe both ?

"Anyway, after that I joined my first job as a mercenary. The merchant was not impressed that the Guild had assigned a kid to his caravan but the other guards told him how I had knocked out the other guy in no time. It was a relatively calm trip. It took a while for the horses to calm down when they first saw Quickfang, but we managed. We were attacked once during the journey. It was a pack of goblins and we made short work of them. When we arrived in Sanetharn, the town we were supposed to deliver the shipment, we reported to the Guild outpost and got paid.

It was not that much, but enough for me to rent a room for a couple of nights. The trip had lasted three days and we were tired. Once again, I had trouble with Quickfang at the entrance of the city. Fortunately, my fellow mercenaries and the merchant vouched for my furry friend.

Two days later, I was back at the Guild and accepted another contract. I did this for a few times, going from town to town, meeting new people each time. I even saw the sea for the first time. It was beautiful, with the sunset and all.

Then one day, I accepted a contract that would require me to escort a caravan to a country called Jahlla. It was almost two months of travel and we will have to go through the Sea of Sand. Which is basically a huge desert that separated the continent in two.

My birthday was the day after we left the town. The group consisted of the merchant we were supposed to escort, his wife and his daughter. She was eleven years old like me and she was utterly terrified to go through the Sea of Sand. Beside them, there were three other guards. I already knew one of them, Saamil. He was born in Jahlla and knew the way and the region pretty well. We decided to make him the team leader.

He was a tall guy, almost two heads taller than I am right now. Black skin, almond eyes. A very kind soul. He had a smile that would brighten up a room in an instant. Anyway, we departed and for a few days nothing happened. We celebrated my birthday and those who didn't knew me were shocked to learn that I was only eleven. I always looked older than I was. But a couple of days later, we got attacked by bandits and..."

He ran his finger through his hair and rubbed his neck. It was the first milestone in his journeys. Up until now, it was all sunshine and rainbows, but this attack was the first difficult memory he had.

"It went badly, asked Daphne with a comforting hand on his shoulder."

"You can say that. There were a lot of them. Some ran away but in the end we found eight bodies. You know, as much as it pains me to admit it, it's one thing to kill animals and monsters to defend yourself, but killing humans ? The same specie that you are ? I kept repeating myself that they were bad people, that they attacked us first and we only defended ourselves, but still... If you don't defend yourself, who knows what they'll do to you, but the other option is not appealing either. So you're here, you've got your sword in your hands, your palms are sweaty, knees weak..."

Daphne had this urge to sing the rest of the lyrics but refrained to do so. She had to purse her lips to keep her mouth shut and Harry noticed it.

"What's wrong, he asked with his head cocked to the side."

"Nothing, she replied defensively. Just for your information, you somewhat quoted a song from an artist called Eminem. His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There's vomit on his shirt already..."

The young warrior nodded.

"Ah, I see. Did he experience something similar too ?"

"No, It's about something else."

He lit up another cigarette and sighed.

"You should stop, you know ? It's bad for your health and it smells like shit."

"Woah, he replied sarcastically. Thank you ! I'm never going to smoke again now. It was just what I needed."

"No need to be an asshole about it, she said. I'm just trying to help."

"Well, I'm doing fine considering... Anyway. We couldn't outrun them with the caravan so we had to fight. We managed to push them back and the rest fleed. I had nightmares for days on end."

Harry blew a drag of smoke.

"When we arrived in the Sea of Sand, I was stunned speechless. First of all, it was scorching hot. Like the sun was actively trying to burn us. There were absolutely no clouds in the sky, just an endless blue sky. There was nothing else but sand and dunes as far as the eyes could see.

The wheels of the carriage kept getting stuck as we went and sand kept creeping in our boots and clothes. At night, we were forced to lit a bonfire to keep from dying of hypothermia. Deserts are crazy like that. Burning hot during the day, cold as fuck during the night. It really takes a toll on you. I kid you not, when we finally set foot in Jahlla, my arms and my neck were just covered in sunburns, and I was aching to take a bath so badly...

One week in this desert and I was already considering quitting the mercenary job. Thankfully, the pay was really good this time or I might actually have done that. Actually, it was so good that I managed to hire a Water Mage in Jahlla to cast a spell that would keep me from burning alive on the trip back. It took me almost half of my pay though. Meh, worth it.

We celebrated the success of the mission with the others and said our farewell to Saamil who decided to stay here for a bit, see his parents, maybe date a girl... That night I also learned that the merchant had decided to make the trip by land and not by sea because he didn't want to pay the amount required to book a ship. So we cheered to stingy merchants and cursed them at the same time."

Harry stretched his arms and legs. He had talked a lot without realising it, and his mouth was dried out.

"It's really incredible that you've experienced all that so young, said Daphne with astonishment. So incredible that I almost can't believe you."

"You don't have to, he replied with a shrug. I know that parents here are more protective of their children than they were back in Ulcide."

The young man stood up and helped his friend to her feet.

"We should go wake the others now, he said with anticipation. I can't wait to finally visit London."

The blond woman went for her pocket to grab her phone and looked at the time.

"Damn it, she exclaimed. 4 PM already ?"

"I did ask you if that's how you wanted to spend your afternoon. Come on."

Their trip to London was, in Harry's opinion, marvelous. They had to stop every so often to let him gawk at the buildings, the shops, the cars... Duncan told his family and Tracey that the towns in Ulcide were way smaller than the ones in this world. Even the capital of a powerful country had at most 200 000 inhabitants, whereas London alone had more people living in it that an entire kingdom.

In the end, they arrived right on time for their reservation at the restaurant, even though they had left early. For the fist time of his life, Harry ate pizza. He liked his first one so much that he ordered a second one. When they left, they took a quick stroll around town. When they were ready to leave, they entered an alleyway to apparate back home.

 **AN : Yeah boiiiii. How are you guys doing ? I'm sorry for the wait. I had a really busy month and could hardly find any time to write. Another chapter, another part of Harry's life unveiled. Thanks to keyblademeister88 and Dragonhitter for your reviews, your guys are awesome. Tell me what you thought about this chapter in the reviews, I really enjoy reading them.**

 **The song Harry sang to wake Duncan up is from the Lord of the Ring. It's called the Green Dragon.**

 **I'm going to start writing the next chapter right away. See you in a week.**


	11. Chapter Ten : One Hell Of A Party

**DISCLAIMER : I don't own Harry Potter or any work referenced in this story.**

 **Chapter Ten : One Hell Of A Party**

"Turn around. " ordered Tracey as she stared at Harry's outfit.

"Come on. It's the fiftieth outfit you made me try !" whined Harry

This morning, Harry was dragged out of the house to go shopping. When he asked why they had to leave this early, the girls told him that they were going to Paris via Portkey. The young man was really excited to visit another country, even for a few hours and followed Annabelle, Daphne, Astoria and Tracey without a word after that.

Unfortunately, he had no money on him, and so had to take a quick trip to Gringotts to make a withdrawal. He felt indebted to the Greengrass family for their kindness and the offer to stay at the manor for the holidays and flat out refused to let them pay for anything else.

Once Harry came back from his vault, he met his friends at the entrance of the bank and they left for the Ministry. Eric Munch, the security guard was very proud that The-Boy-Who-Lived remembered his name. Once they were done, they headed to the Department of Magical Transportation and booked a Portkey for Paris. A couple of minutes later, the group stood around a silver cup, ready to depart.

And now after a few hours of shopping, Harry knew why his friends had warned him. Sure it was fun at first, but after a couple of hours, he regretted his choice. He was beggining to feel lightheaded due to the amount of people around him. There were just too many passerby and patrons in the shops, he could barely walk at a normal pace because of the crowd and he felt nervous around so many people.

So when they finally decided to have lunch, Harry felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulder. They went to a nearby fast-food and when Harry had ordered his menu, he went to find a secluded place in the restaurant. Thankfully, he managed to find an empty corner with enough seats and couches for everyone. He waited patiently for his friends to come back with the trays.

"You okay ? You look troubled." asked Astoria as she sat down with her food in front of her.

"There's too many people. I don't like it." replied Harry.

"Sorry... We should have known better. Dad told us that you've never saw that many people in one place but we got carried away..." apologised Daphne with her lips pursed.

"It's okay. It was incredible at first but... There's just too many, you know ? And everyone is just sooooo slow." said the young man with a small smile.

"Well, I think we'll go back home soon. Maybe we'll try one more shop and then we'll head back to the French Ministry. "stated Annabelle.

Around five in the afternoon, the group was back home, with all of their packages shrinked.

"How did it went ?" asked Duncan when his wife came to sit down next to him on the couch.

Annabelle leaned in to kiss him and Duncan gladly accepted the gesture.

Astoria made a gagging noise but her parents ignored her antics.

"It was really nice ! Harry had a bit of trouble with the crowd but he managed. And he only started complaining after thirty outfits..." replied the Greengrass matriarch.

"Teach me, master !"

The green eyed young man chuckled.

"You've got to learn it on the field ! I'll be outside if you need anything."

When everyone was sure that the young man had left, Duncan rubbed his hands together.

"You've got it ?" he asked with a mischievious smile.

"Yes. His first Christmas gift ! The girls helped me to choose." replied Annabelle as she rummaged through her shopping bag

"Of course we did ! We can't leave him without a phone. What if we need to call him or to send him useless games invites via Facebook ?" replied Tracey.

"You didn't pick anything too complex, right ?"

"No, it's an older model but still quite decent. He can buy himself another one when he's more accustomed to it." answered Daphne.

"Do you know what he picked for us ? I know you two went shopping for Christmas gifts a couple of days ago." asked Astoria excitedly.

"You'll have to see tomorrow." winked Duncan.

On Christmas Eve, Tracey's parents came over and everyone got to enjoy Duncan's famous stuffed turkey. The food at Hogwarts was very good, but it could never hope to match such a wonderful meal. They even popped open an exquisite bottle of champagne which delighted everyone at the table. All in all, it was a marvelous experience for Harry. The whole table was filled with chatter and an overall sense of genuine happiness.

Mr. Davis was glad to see his daughter after so long and apologised for not being able to end his business trip earlier to spend more time with her. He was a rather tall man, with short black hair, cleanly shaved beard and his brown eyes shone with kindness thourough the evening.

However, Tracey's bubbly personality definitely came from her mother. Mrs. Davis was an elegant brown haired woman, with a constant smile upon her face. Tracey nearly made her fall on the ground when she grapple-hugged her.

Everyone went to bed around midnight and fell asleep quickly. Duncan had worked all day, either in the kitchen to prepare the meal, or in his office to do some paperwork and it goes without saying that everyone was extremely grateful for his efforts.

The next morning, the entire house woke up filled with excitement.

Astoria went to wake Harry at eight, but she found his room empty.

"He's not sleeping. He's not even in his room !" she said, pouting.

"Don't worry. He'll be home soon." replied Duncan as he checked his watch." Actually, if he didn't wake up late, he'll be home in ten, nine, eight..."

"Merry Christmas, everyone !" greeted the young man with a huge smile as he barged in the living room with sweat all over his forehead. "I'll take a shower and I'll be right back !"

"Screw the shower !" replied Daphne as she took out her wand and slowly pointed it towards the young Soldier. " **Scourgify** !"

Most of the young man's sweat disapeared in the blink of an eye and the young woman looked rather pleased with herself.

"Or you can do that, yes..." deadpanned Harry as he sat down in an armchair next to the fireplace.

"I'll go and grab everyone's gifts !" stated the Greengrass patriarch.

He came back with a bunch of neatly packed boxes levitating behind him.

As soon as the packages touched the ground, everyone rushed to try to find their gifts and the sound of wrapping paper being ripped apart could be heard across the room.

"I found one of mine !"

"Mom ! Mom ! This one's for you ?"

"This one's mine Tori !"

You get the drift.

Duncan watched the scene unfold with great emotion. His eyes were brimming with tears of joy and he had his hand over his mouth trying to hide his quivering lips. It took ten years but he finally got to enjoy Christmas with his family once again. And it felt like Heaven.

Annabelle wrapped her arms around his waist when she saw her husband's face.

"It's alright. Everything is going to be alright..." tryied to sooth the woman.

"I swore I wouldn't cry... I swore I wouldn't cry. B-But I'm home now..."

From the corner of his eyes, Harry saw his brother in arms break down and his heart clenched. The Soldiers had returned a couple of months ago, broken, wounded and with their heads filled with horrors. It took months before they could reintegrate society completely. Now, those who gave so much finally got to enjoy the family they had left for so long.

If the young man was completely sincere with himself, he would say that he was jealous. His family was gone, his world was gone. At least they had something to come back to.

But there was a silver lining. He had another family. Those who shed blood, tears and sweat alongside him. Duncan, Albus, Sirius...

Here he was, wallowing in self-pity when his godfather was alone, wanted for a crime he didn't commit.

"Soon, Padfoot. Soon." he muttered to himself.

A few moments later and everyone had opened their gifts. Almost everyone received two gifts from Harry, except for Tracey's parents as he didn't knew they would come and kept apologising for not thinking ahead.

He gave Tracey two tickets to one of the Tornados' match, Astoria got a new pair of headphones, promised Annabelle to write her a small book on the Healing Domain as soon as possible with the help of Sirius.

Duncan received a new pair of shoes.

And Daphne got a magical photo-album.

"I hope you'll like it. You told me you would have loved to see Ulcide before the War. So I used some of my own memories to put them in with your father's help. It was a bit longer than we expected but I think it turned out great." said the green-eyed warrior.

The young woman slowly opened the album and gaped at the magnificient scenery on first page.

It was a splendid forest, filled with gigantic redwood trees. The canopy allowed the light of the sun to reach the plants-covered ground in striking rays of light falling diagonally. Thanks to the magical properties of the picture, a wide variety of animals could be seen crossing the scenery. Some were similar to those on Earth but some were so bizarre and clearly different.

Everyone had gathered around the album to behold the beauty of this other world, except for those who already went there. They simply watched their friends and family expression of awe in front of the wonders of the Eternal Forest.

"It's wonderful, I love it !" breathed Daphne.

"Good to hear. Now everyone open up your second gift. It's the same for all of you."

Hyped up by their previous gift, everyone except Tracey's parents tore open their second package as Harry kept apologising for not having anything for them.

"It's alright. You couldn't know. We don't have anything for you either." replied for the thrid time.

"A locket ?" asked Tracey with her eyebrow raised. "Thanks Harry ! It's really nice of you."

"It's not a simple locket." replied the young man with a mischievious smile. "Tap it with your wand."

Curious to see the outcome, Tracey took out her wand and lightly tapped it on the locket.

At this exact moment, everyone in the room could feel a gentle wave of soothing energy wash over them. A low and gentle voice came out of the locket, speaking in a language none of them could understand, but familiar nonetheless. It felt like velvet to their ears, almost divine. Each word pronounced reinforcing the calming aura.

"What is happening ? It feels so good..." said Astoria with her eyes closed and a blissful smile on her face.

"I wanted to thank you all for your kindness and to tell you that I appreciated your company. So I figured that if I could not convey my feelings with normal words, I might as well try with Elvish. So I recorded myself and thanks to a fellow Soldier who's an Enchantress, we managed to put it in. If you ever feel down, or sad, you can just tap the locket and... Well it will do that. Maybe it's a bit presumptuous to give you something made with my voice, but-"

"That's one of the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. Thank you Harry." interrupted Annabelle with a bright smile.

"I'm glad to hear that." replied the young man with a smile of his own.

They spent the rest of the morning listening to the soothing lockets.

Finally, the day of the party was here. After days of planning and preparations, the manor was ready.

Thanks to the fact that the Minister of Magic was one of the guests, Duncan received the approval of the Ministry to cast several Extension Charms on different rooms of the house. The living room, ball room, and the dining room were now temporarily many times bigger.

The garden was decorated and furnished as well. A few tables, chairs and lights were spread across the otherwise rather empty terrace. A number of warming wards were used to keep the freezing temperature away.

The guests would be here any minute now.

Duncan and Annabelle were waiting in front of the gates of the manor, as is customary.

Duncan wore black dress robes with a white shirt underneath it, black pants and the new shoes Harry got him for Christmas. His long black hair were tied in a ponytail.

Annabelle had picked a long blue dress, which only had on strap on her left shoulder

"I hope they won't notice that the third table cloth is not of the same red as the others." said Annabelle nervously.

"Don't worry sweetheart. We're all friends." replied her husband as he held her closer.

"It's not the Soldiers I'm worried about. The Minister is coming !"

Duncan chuckled when he heard this.

"What's so funny ?"

"Don't worry. He will have other things to think about." he said with a sly smile.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Daphne, Tracey and Astoria were waiting for the guests to arrive.

The three of them wore strapless dress of different colors. Silver for Daphne, black for Tracey and green for Astoria.

"Did you put anything for us in the playlist ? I don't wanna spend the entire evening listening to old person's songs." asked Astoria to her older sister.

"Yes I did. Mom told me to make two playlist, actually. One if the Minister stays the entire evening and the other if he leaves early."

"Let's hope he leaves then. Where is Harry ? Everyone will be here any second now." said Tracey as she looked at the stairs leading to the bedrooms.

"Apparently he will make his entrance later. I overheard him and Dad talking earlier. He didn't seems thrilled though."

"It's too late anyway. Here they are !" stated Astoria as she saw a crowd of guests coming towards her parents.

Roughly ten minutes later, everyone was here. Ron's family had arrived with Hermione with the exception of Ginny and Neville was here with his grandmother.

Those who had already attended a magical party were glad to see that the atmosphere was much more relaxed and casual than a Pureblood gathering. Friends were talking to each others, introducing their family and it was a nice change.

"I guess it's time for Demonsbane's grand entrance." said Duncan to Albus.

"I think so. The Minister seemed to be looking for him." replied the old Headmaster with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Okay." breathed the Greengrass patriarch . "Here we go."

He stood up, his empty glass in his hand and grabbed a fork. He tapped it on the glass several times, producing a clear noise across the room which caught the attention of everyone. With one last glance at Albus, Duncan cleared his throat and began his speech.

"Dear friends and family. We are extremely happy to have you here tonight. As you all know, this party is to commemorate our return to our world, our home and our family. We went through a lot to be here tonight and many times, we thought we would never see the light. Later this evening, we will honor those who bravely gave their lives to allow us to come back. But right now, I would like you to celebrate the arrival of our friend and leader, one of those who gave so much for us to be standing here. Raise your glasses to the man who gave us hope during our darkest hours. The man who united all the races under his banner. The warrior who fought the Avatar of the Archdemon Baal. Raise your glasses to Demonsbane !"

As one, every Soldier got up and grabbed the nearest cup, glass or pint. For a second nothing happened. All the guests were looking around to see if someone had appeared but no one seemed to have moved.

Just as Duncan thought he had embarassed himself, the large doors leading to the main entrance of the manor opened.

The first thing the guest saw was a jet-black metal boot crossing the doorway. The sound of the heel on the marble floor resonated across the dead silent ball room.

The figured that just entered struck awe and if they were honest with themselves, no small amount of fear. His entire body was covered in an armour made out of the same black metal as the boots. Intricate patterns, runes and carvings were placed on the torso, legs and gauntlets.

But what truly frightened those who never saw Demonsbane was what he wore on his head as an helmet. A massive skull, with terrifyingly sharp teeth, soul-sucking black eyes and two big horns on the forehead of the dead creature was displayed as a trophy on the head of the mighty warrior.

Whatever that foul thing was, everyone could agree that they would rather see it dead than alive.

As the intimidating figure strode toward Duncan his blood red cloak fluttering behind him, the Soldiers began chanting his name, louder and louder, tapping their feet on the ground, slamming their glass on their tables, to their families incredulity.

Who would have thought that respectable purebloods would act as such in the presence of the Minister of Magic ? Muggleborns, they could understand, but members of Noble and Most Ancient Houses ? Apparently, they held a deeper respect for this man than to the pureblood etiquette.

When Demonsbane stopped in front of Duncan, he extended his hand forward and the Greengrass patriarch shook it. The leader of the Soldiers turned around to face the audience, the two empty eyesockets staring at held his hand in the air and all noise stopped.

The unknown man raised his arms to grab the skull, apparently about to reveal his face.

The whole audience waited with batted breaths to put a face on the man who had apparantly accomplished so many feats that an entire world had chosen to fight with and for him.

As the skull was lifted off his face, the man revealed to be a very familiar face. Black messy hair, emerald green eyes and sharp features. Oh, and a faint lightning bolt scar on his forehead, of course...

"You wouldn't believe how hot it is under that thing." stated Harry with a smirk.

"I didn't know you were such an important figure, Mr. Potter. You never told me you were the leader of the Soldiers." said the Minister as he drank in his champagne flute.

"Harry is a very modest person Minister. This little act you saw here took a lot of convincing on my part to get him to accept." replied Duncan as he put a supporting hand on his younger friend's shoulder.

"If I had an advice to give you, it would be to embrace your fame a bit more. From what I understood, you accompished quite a number of feats, and you deserve to be recognised as the powerful wizard that you are."

"Thank you for your advice, Minister. I will keep it in mind in the future. Are you enjoying the evening so far ?" said Harry as he adjusted his black tie.

When he had finally revealed his face, he decided to put his armour back in the Arsenal. Under all these heavy protections, he was wearing his new black three piece suit and a white shirt that he bought during his trip in Paris. Judging from the nods of approval from Daphne, Tracey and Astoria as well as the predatory eyes from some of the guests, he must have looked quite dashing.

"Immensely. Unfortunately, I won't stay very long. I have an important meeting with several of my Departments Heads tomorrow morning."

"What a shame. Do enjoy our little gathering for as long as you want, Mr. Minister." said Duncan.

"I will. Have a nice evening, gentlemen." replied the Minister as he lifted his bowler hat slightly and walked away to socialise wiith other guests.

"You think it was enough to make an impression ?" asked Harry as he watched Fudge's back.

"We'll have to see. We did pretty good I reckon. I think my daughters and your friends have quite a few questions they need you to answer now." With a pat on the young man's shoulder, Duncan left his friend to spend time with his wife.

Smiling as he made his way towards his friends, Harry walked up to them and waved his hand as a greeting.

"Hey guys."

"You're Demonsbane ? Bloody hell, mate ! Bill and Charlie told us so much about you, but we never expected that it would be you !" exclaimed Ron.

"Really ? I mean, I guess... I never told you. It seemed kinda irrelevant."

"You've got a litteral army of battle-hardened witches and wizards willing to die for you and you call it irrelevant ?" asked Astoria.

"I **had** an army of people willing to **fight** **with** me. They're home now. They don't need to fight anymore. At least I hope."

"How did you became the leader anyway ? I mean, now you're technically older, but back then you were the same age as we are." asked Daphne with a glass of white wine in her hand.

"It's a long, very long story. To keep it short, I was not the leader until a lot of shits happened and the War had been going on for almost five years. On a totally unrelated note, thanks for your gifts everyone. I really appreciate it."

"You too, Harry. This necklace is incredible. What kind of spell did you use to enchant it ?" inquired Hermione as she lifted her locket.

"Just a special recording spell from a friend of mine and my own voice." replied the young man cheekily.

"What do you mean your own voice ? It's like being on a cloud every time we use it !" said Neville with a smile as he remembered the effect of the necklace.

"You'll understand later this evening. You three shut up, don't ruin their surprise." said the raven haired Soldier to the young women who knew about his ability to speak Elvish.

"Is the Minister going to stay ?" asked Tracey nonchalantly as she sipped at her flute of champagne.

"No, he's not. He claims to have an important meeting tomorrow, but I think he's not in his element. There's something I'd like you guys to help me with. My new phone seems to be unable to use this Why-Fly you told me about. And it keeps pestering me about updates. Can you tell it to stop doing that ?"

Unable to resist the urge to snort, the group of friends tried to explain to Harry that it wasn't how a smartphone worked and that he needed to enter the password for the Wi-Fi to use it.

Everyone was so busy laughing at the poor warrior that no one noticed a tall blond man walking towards them, except for Harry.

"Hi Gil'. How are you ?" greeted the green-eyed young man with a small smile.

Suddenly aware of the presence of a stranger, they stopped and looked at him. He was an handsome middle-aged man, with shoulder length blond hair and shining white teeth. His deep blue eyes seemed friendly, but one could see the pain hidden behind them. He was currently wearing a set of deep blue dress robes that complimented his eyes quite well.

"Good evening, Commander. Ladies and gentlemen, good evening as well." greeted back the man.

"I told you to stop calling me that. Anyway, everyone meet Gilderoy Lockhart, a fellow Soldier. Gil' meet my friends and fellow Hogwarts students, Astoria, Daphne, Tracey, Hermione, Ron and Neville." introduced Harry as he gestured to every person present.

"Oh my God ! Mr. Lockhart ! I am such a huge fan ! I've read all of your books ! I was sure you'd be able to come back-" began Hermione before being interrupted by her boyfriend.

"Breath, babe. He can't talk to you if you pass out." said Ron with a fond smile, used to Hermione's famous words barrage.

Flushing red, the young woman coughed.

"I mean, nice to meet you, Mr. Lockhart."

"Call me Gilderoy like the Com... Like Harry. Every friend of his is a friend of mine." said Gilderoy with a smile.

"How did you two meet each others ?" asked Neville curiously.

"He saved my life. I was already saying my prayers when Harry's unit showed up and saved mine." explained the famous author.

"It must have been quite a disastrous situation if you needed to be rescued. You're a member of the Dark Force Defense League, after all..." inquired Daphne with narrowed eyes. She always had her doubts on Lockhart's stories. There were too many discrepancies in his books.

Gilderoy sighed deeply and drank the rest of his glass of whiskey.

"I... I am not the hero my books depicts me as. Some of these adventures aren't even mine..." breathed the man with his head hanged in shame.

Harry put a comforting hand on the man's shoulder.

"You've changed. We all have. For some reasons, the Angels thought you could become a better man, and you did. You may have not been a hero before, but you are one now. Your contributions to the War have saved thousands" said Demonsbane.

"It doesn't erase a lifetime of lies and trickery. Thankfully, I've been offered a chance to right my wrongs and help the future generations..."

"Really ? That's great ! See, you're on the right path already."

"I guess. Thank you, Harry. I will be seeing you all soon." said the man as he took his leave.

"I was not expecting that. Not at all." deadpanned Daphne.

"He made a lot of mistakes. When he arrrived in Ulcide with the rest of the Soldiers, he was so terrified that he could barely hold his wand in the right way. But he pulled himself together. Someone else would have snapped, but he didn't. He pushed through and ended up being a very effective element to the recon unit. His reports were incredibly accurate and helped us work out several strategies."

"So he never actually fought in the War ?" asked Hermione with a sad face.

"Everyone fought. However, he was never a particularly powerful wizard. So he had to rely on his wits and mind rather than his wand or arms. It made him a fearsome opponent. Don't be too harsh on him, guys. I know he's not the man you thought him to be, but he already paid the price for his lies tenfold." said Harry as he ran a hand through his hair.

One hour later, the Minister had left the manor to "rest for his appointment". Barely two minutes later, Daphne was already asking her dad if she could change the playlist to something more in touch with the time.

"There's just one thing we have to do before that. And I think you will be blown away." replied Duncan with a wink.

"What are you planning now ? Another speech perhaps ?" teased Annabelle with a mischievious smile.

The Greengrass matriarch was having a wonderful night. Her husband had almost never left her side and the friendly conversations she had with her guests only made the night better. All of them had at least one funny story and many more incredible tales. She never would have thought that this party would be so light-hearted.

"No. Just two more special guests. I didn't think they would be able to come, but it seems as though they managed to." replied her husband.

"But I thought all the guests were already here."

"All the human guests are here." corrected Duncan, grinning.

"You don't mean..."

She could not end her sentence as two bright lights appeared in the air above them. Shouts of joy could be heard across the room as the Soldiers were hurrying their families toward the spheres of white energy.

"What's happening ? What's this ?" said Astoria with her eyes staring at the magnificent magic that appeared.

The light was replaced by two figures, falling slowly towards the ground. A circle had formed around the enthrancing phenomenon. No one was speaking but the Soldiers were clearly happy to see these figures.

Suddenly the light vanished and in front of them stood two Angels. It was impossible to mistake them for something else, with their radiant white feathery wings and celestial aura.

One was male, tall and broad-shouldered. He let his long orange hair cascade down his shoulders and back. He dark skin and red eyes that would have made him fearsome if his face was not as soft as it was. He wore a white tunic with beautiful golden embroideries, black pants and shoes.

The other Angel was a female with a slim and well defined body. Her pale skin and deep black hair reminded those who were brave enough to lay their eyes on her, of a winter night where the moon would shine on the snow. Her mesmerising silver eyes scanned the crowd and both her and the male Angel would smile whenever they gazed upon a familiar face. She wore a white toga, with golden embroideries as well.

"Good evening to you." said both celestials beings at the same time. Judging by the way they looked at each other, it was not made on purpose.

Duncan left his wife's side to walk slowly towards them. Not knowing how to react to the presence of two divine beings among them, the guests kept their mouths shut, content to have laid their eyes on such magnificient creatures.

The host of the party stopped a few feet before them and looked at them intently. Then embraced them without a moment of hesitation. As on cue, all the Soldiers rushed forward, and ended up creating a massive group hug as the room was filled with laughter and cries of happiness. After a couple of minute, the hug broke off and everyone went back to their wide-eyed families. It seems as though the two Angels had made their wings disapeared before the hord of Soldiers could crush them.

"Come on, don't be shy. They're friends." said Duncan as he gestured to his family to greet the Angels.

Annabelle, Daphne and Astoria walked up slightly hesitantly. In front of them was two Angels, messengers, warriors and inhabitant of Heaven. Their very presence made them feel inadequate to breath around them, and yet, they looked at them fondly, waiting patiently for them to build up enough courage to approach them. Daphne was first to do so, helped by Harry's advice.

"Good evening. It is good to finally meet you." greeted the female Angel with a radiant smile.

"Agreed. This is Midnight, and I am Dusk." added the red-eyed Angel, one hand on his left hip and the other gesturing to his fellow Angel and himself.

"I-I am Daphne Greengrass. Glad to finally meet you." stuttered the young woman.

Daphne's sentence seemed to break Annabelle and Astoria from their stupor and they quickly introduced themselves.

"We brought something for the party, as an apology for our tardiness. Work as been hectic up there." said Midnight as she waved her hand in the air.

A huge barrel made of a strange but beautiful wood appeared out of thin air.

"Yes ! Finally ! I longed for some Angel's Drop since we got back here !" shouted Duncan while he lifted the barrel in the air with his wand and dropped it next to the bar.

The effects were immediate, as dozens of wiches and wizards were dragging their families to the bar to grab a cup of the famous drink.

"So you've heard about us then ? What did your father told you about ? Nothing too bad, I hope ?" inquired Dusk as he looked at Daphne with a half-smile.

"Actually, it's Harry who told me about you and his childhood." replied the young woman, slowly getting more used to be talking with an actual divine existence.

"Dusk ! Midnight !"

Harry was standing in the door frame, his white shirt not tucked in his pants. He started running toward his surrogate brother.

The red-eyed Angel ran towards him as well, a huge grin upon his face.

They both embraced each other, holding the other tightly, as if they were afraid that the other would vanish if they let him go. The hug lasted for a minute, completely unbothered by the eyes of nearly three hundred people watching them.

It was heart-warming for Harry's friend to see him act like a normal teenager reuniting with a family member. Their difference were irrelevant, there was no Angel or human, no mortal and immortal. Just two brothers in all but blood taking comfort in each others presence.

The two of them walked back towards Midnight and the Greengrasses, arm-in-arm.

"Good to see you, Midnight." said Harry softly as he embraced the other Angel.

"You too, Harry. You too..." replied the black haired Angel with her eyes closed, rubbing the young man's back.

The hug broke off and the young man stood between the two celestials, grinning like a loon. He seemed to radiate happiness.

"Harry. This lovely young lady here told me you talked about your childhood. What exactly did you tell her ?" asked Dusk as he cracked his knuckles threateningly.

"Nothing ! I swea- Ouch ! Ouch ! Ouch ! Not the hair, not the hair ! Stop it ! Stooop !" cried out the young man as he was given a noogie by an angry Dusk.

Once the young man managed to break free from the headlock, he tried to smooth his hair to no avail.

"I swear I didn't tell anything !" said Daphne when she saw the angry glare the young man was throwing her way.

"Tsk. Whatever."

"You talked about him, but not me ? I'm hurt Harry." complained Midnight, faking sadness.

"Don't be that way. The first time I met you, the War had already begun." retorted the black-haired warrior.

Duncan coughed and leaned forward to whisper something in Harry's ear.

"Shit !" cursed the young man. He blushed a bit, then turned around to close his zipper. "I was about to use the restroom when I sensed your arrival. Now I have to wait again. There is at least five guys waiting in line."

So many unbelievable things had happened tonight. Harry turned out to be Commander Demonsbane, two Angels had shown up and were now attending the party like it was nobody's business, Dumbledore had danced to a Black Eyed Peas song...

So when midnight struck, no one thought it would have been possible to top this. They were already attending the most incredible party of the century.

"Everyone, we'll be conducting the Parting ceremony in the garden in five minutes !" announced Duncan.

"The Parting ceremony ? Is the party over ?" asked Astoria.

"No ! Of course not. The Parting is an Ulcidian tradition. It's their way to say farewell to the deceased." answered her father.

"Why don't we bury them ?"

"Because not many corpses are left, and they would not want us to attend to almost a million burials." replied Duncan.

The guests started to slowly trickle to the garden, now used to have their mind blown everytime something happened.

Once outside, they saw a huge pile of wood in the middle of the garden. The wood was laid on a stone slab, probably conjured by the Angels who were waiting next to Harry. A single wooden torch was lit near the altar, the flames moving with the wind.

When all the guests had arrived, Harry stepped forward and looked at the crowd with a grave expression.

"Who will be The First To Part ?" he asked to the assembly.

"I will." called a voice in the back. A muscled man with long red hair, blue eyes and freckles all over his face stepped forward. He wore a strange earing on his left ear, seemingly made out of a dragon's tooth.

"Let it be witnessed that Charles Weasley, the Wyvern Tamer, will be The First To Part." stated the young man.

Hushed whisper broke off among the crowd, as the guests were asking what was happening to their family.

"Who will be The Last To Part ?" asked Harry once again.

"I will." proclaimed Gilderoy in the same serious tone as the others. The famous author stepped forward, his face an expressionless stone mask.

"Let it be witnessed that Gilderoy Lockhart, the Redeemed, will be The Last To Part." stated Harry with an air of finality.

Charles Weasley walked up to the stone slab and took out his wand. In clear view of everyone, he conjured a small knife in his left hand and pocketed his wand. He stood still for a few seconds, then took a deep breath. He raised his right hand and used the knife in his left to make a cut in his palm.

He then put his now bloodied hand on the stone slab, leaving a red handprint on it.

Daphney heard someone moving behind her and looked over her shoulder to see Ron Weasley, making his way through the crowd.

"Do you know what is happening ? My Mum is going crazy over there." he asked in a low voice.

"No idea. Come on, we'll ask my dad." replied the blond Slytherin, equally confused about what was transpiring.

"Dad ? Could you explain what is happening ? Mrs. Weasley is getting worried." asked the young woman.

"I guess... As you know this is called the Parting. It's the Ulcidian equivalent of our funeral rites. One person act as the master of ceremony, in this case it's Harry. Two person act as The First and Last To Part. Tell your mother that Charlie is not doing anything dangerous, it's all part of the rite. I'll explain the rest later, I have to join the rest now." said Duncan.

The loving father of the Greengrass family brushed his hand against his wife's, smiled at her and left to join the line that had formed in front of the altar.

One after another, the Soldiers conjured a knife in their hand, cut their palm and left an mark on the stone slab. Soon the altar was covered in red markings.

Once they were done, they walked over to Charlie. The second eldest son of the Weasley family then proceeded to wrap their hands in bandages, slowly, ceremoniously. Once the bandages were in place, he hugged each and every one of them. After that, they went back to their family.

Finally, only Harry, Dusk, Midnight and Gilderoy were left. The Angels had to cut themselves with a blade summoned from their Arsenal and left a golden handprint on the stone slab. Harry did the same as everyone else, except for the fact that he left his hand on the altar a bit longer than the rest, as if he was relunctant to leave.

When only Lockhart was left, he placed the last mark on the stone and walked towards Charlie. Then, the red head gave him half of the remaining bandages and presented his still bleeding hand. Gilderoy wrapped Charlie's hand and Charlie wrapped his.

First and Last nodded at Harry and walked away. Harry turned toward the torch and picked it up.

He took a deep breath, stepped forward and lit the pile of wood on fire. Slowly, the flames rose, and soon the a roaring bonfire cast its blinding light upon the garden.

"What's next ?" asked Astoria to her father, her eyes still fixated on the fire.

"Now, we listen." was his answer.

Dusk, Midnight and Harry had their backs turned to face the fire. The young man still had the torch in his hand. It seemed as though the rest of the Soldier had passed the message to their families because not a single word could be heard.

Until three voices started Singing.

" _I saw the light fade from the sky_

 _On the wind I heard a sigh_

 _As the snowflakes cover my fallen brothers_

 _I will say this last goodbye_

 _Night is now falling_

 _So ends this day_

 _The road is now calling_

 _And I must away_

 _Over hill and under tree_

 _Through lands where never light has shone_

 _By silver streams that run down to the sea_

 _Under cloud, beneath the stars_

 _Over snow one winter's morn_

 _I turn at last to paths that lead home_

 _And though where the road then takes me_

 _I cannot tell_

 _We came all this way_

 _But now comes the day_

 _To bid you farewell_

 _Many places I have been_

 _Many sorrows I have seen_

 _But I don't regret_

 _Nor will I forget_

 _All who took the road with me_

 _Night is now falling_

 _So ends this day_

 _The road is now calling_

 _And I must away_

 _Over hill and under tree_

 _Through lands where never light has shone_

 _By silver streams that run down to the sea_

 _To these memories I will hold_

 _With your blessing I will go_

 _To turn at last to paths that lead home_

 _And though where the road then takes me_

 _I cannot tell_

 _We came all this way_

 _But now comes the day_

 _To bid you farewell_

 _I bid you all a very fond farewell..._ "

The only ones that could understand the song were those who spoke Elvish, and yet the entire audience understood the message, felt the message. From the first word to the last, a litteral tidal wave of feelings had crashed over their hearts. Sadness, grief, hope... Some wiped the tears that had fallen down their cheeks, most were too moved to even realise that they were crying. For a minute, the world had stopped moving to pay attention. More than once, the voices of the singers almost broke down. It was not because of lack of skill, but due to the sheer power of their emotions. All their lives, they used magic on a daily basis, but this was more magical than any spell they could ever cast.

And snow started falling...

Half an hour later, the fire started to die down. Soon only ashes would be left. Dusk, Midnight and Harry had yet to move from their spot. Once in a while, an ember would fly from the fire to lift itself in the starry sky.

"There's no going back now, is it ?" said Dusk grimly.

"Unless you can go back and fix the past ?" replied Harry.

"No. You know we can't do that." claimed Midnight.

The trio stood there silently for a moment, until the last embers died.

"Let's get back inside. We don't want to catch a cold and miss the rest of the party." suggested Midnight.

"As if you guys could catch such a common disease. But you're right, we don't want to ruin the fun, right ?" shot back the green-eyed wizard.

"Good. I need a drink. Or two. Probably ten." said Dusk as he started to walk back inside.

 **AN : What's up guys ? Once again, I apologise for the late update. I lost my first draft of this chapter so I had to start it again. We finally made it to the long-awaited party ! What did you think about it ? Was it any good ? Did it met your expectations ? I know there's a lot going on in this chapter, maybe too much ? Tell me in the reviews !**

 **The song is from Billy Boyd and was created for the ending credits of The Hobbit : Battle of The Five Armies. I recommend you check it out, it's really moving.**

 **Thanks to monstermadcat, keyblademeister88, Hericus C and Dragonhitter for your reviews and your messages. I really appreciate it. You made it clear that I may have pushed the reactions of the girls a bit too far. I'll keep it in mind for future reference.**

 **Also thanks to Hericus for pointing out my misconception about how a dialogue should be written. English and French have different rules for dialogues and I will try my best to improve as you could see in this chapter.**

 **Thank you so much for checking out this story ! We've made it to 60K words and almost 10K views ! I'm really grateful for your support and I hope this story will keep you interested until the end.**

 **See you next week !**


	12. Chapter Eleven : Trouble In Paradise

**Chapter Eleven : Trouble In Paradise**

 **DISCLAIMER : I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY WORK MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.**

The funny thing about having an healing factor, is that it doesn't prevent you from feeling pain.

So when Harry woke up the day after the party, laying on the marble floor with his feet up on a chair, he felt it. A lot. His back was killing him, his neck was sore, he could barely feel his legs...

And of course, he had a nasty case of hangover.

What a night it had been ! He remembered that the party had lasted way after sunrise. His last memory was him and his friends from Hogwarts, drinking at one of the table. Apparantly, they could not be bothered with waking him up and left him where he fell asleep.

Groaning, the young man got up groggily. The room bore the marks of the festivities all around him. Empty bottles, small puddles of different alcoholic beverages, some chairs were on the ground.

It looked like he was not the only one who fell asleep in the ball room. He could vaguely recognise Dusk and Midnight, sprawled against a wall and leaning on each others.

"Angelic grace, my ass." grumbled the young man.

Apart from the two Angels, there was roughly ten other people. Neville was one of them.

Harry smiled good naturedly when he remembered the night.

The shy Gryffindor had been constantly looking over his shoulder for a good chunk of the night. He was afraid that his gran' would admonish him if he did anything "unbecoming".

Fortunately for him, Augusta was getting old and decided to go home for the night after the Parting ceremony. From this point, the young man could finally breathe. He started by trying the many drinks available. Of course, he tried Angel's Drop. He said it tasted like freshly cut mint, smelled like wet soil (a smell he particularly appreciated as it reminded him of his time spent in the greenhouses of Longbottom Estate). The young man was surpisingly the first of his friends from Hogwarts to relax around Dusk and Dawn. It might be because he was the most drunk though. Midnight in particular took a liking to him. She found the way his eyes lit up with passion whenever he talked about Herbology endearing. She even dragged him on the dancefloor to dance at some point of the night.

True to his words, Duncan was not sleeping here. Harry saw Annabelle whisper something in his ear and Duncan had almost carried her upstairs. Now, Harry never heard what Annabelle had said to him but it wasn't hard to guess.

Hermione and Ron had gone home with the Weasley family. Exactly as Ron had predicted, Harry and Arthur Weasley got along like a house on fire. Their mutual interest in Muggles sparked a few passionate conversations. Molly Weasley was exactly like Bill and Charlie had portrayed her. A kind and caring mother. Perhaps a bit overbearing but her heart was in the right place.

The twins had amused Harry greatly with their quirky way of speaking. He will have more time to get to know them at Hogwarts.

In any case, the party was marvelous. It was every bit as perfect as they expected it to be. Everyone got to introduce their families to the people who helped them survive during their time in Ulcide.

He was interrupted in his train of thoughts by a loud groan coming from his right. Harry leaned forward to see who it was, only to recognise a face he had definitely not expected to see here.

"Albus ?!" exclaimed Harry.

"Not so loud, Harry. I'm too old for this. I should have gone back to the castle instead of agreeing to have 'one more drink'." replied the old man as he rubbed his face and his back.

Eventually, the holidays had to come to an end. Except for celebrating the New Year, nothing of note happened. Not that Harry would complain. Lounging around the house with close friends, taking long walks, training with Duncan... He could see why everyone liked Christmas now.

Fudge had apparently decided to keep the fact that Harry and Demonsbane were the same person from the public. A smart move, if Harry had to say. Neither him or the Minister knew if they could be considered allies for the moment and Fudge wouldn't want a potential enemy to have more support or recognition.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and they had to go back to their routine. Duncan and Annabelle went back to work and the kids had a magic train to catch.

They arrived on the platform Nine and Three-Quarters with almost twenty minutes to spare. Tracey suggested that they take advantage of it by picking a compartement and they agreed.

Soon their friends had joined them in the compartment and the train left King's Cross.

The major part of the journey was absolutely uneventful. The group of friends talked about their holidays, what they were expecting for the rest of the school year, Quidditch, the weather, Quidditch, Dumbledore dancing on "I got a feeling"... Did I mention Quidditch ?

However, Hermione had a question for Harry.

"Could you tell us more about the Parting ? It's been bugging me for a while now." asked the Gryffindor bookworm.

"What do you want to know ?" replied Harry as he put his copy of The Daily Prophet away.

"Everything ! What's its origin, what is the meaning of being the First and the Last ?" said Hermione as she leaned forward.

"Okay, okay ! Chill out. I'll tell you. Huuuh... First, I'm not sure where or when it came from, all I know is that it became the main way to send our deceased in the afterlife a long time ago in Ulcide. Some speculated that it was during the Great Unification War, but I heard that there were records of Parting ceremonies before this time so... About the ceremony in itself, nothing is meaningless. The stone is there for us to place our marks on it and to support the pile of wood. The fire is lit to send our wishes in the sky and because fire is often considered a sign of purification in our world." stated Harry with his eyes focused on the ground in deep reflection.

"Being The First or The Last To Part is both an honor as it is a burden. Being The First means you bleed, well first. It's both literal and lyrical. The loss of a loved one can be a wound, a scar. Cutting yourself and putting your hand on the stone is the the physical representation of the pain you feel here." said Harry as he put a hand over his chest. "You saw that Charlie bandaged everyone but left his own wound unattended. It's because most of the times, the person who hurts the most will help other with their griefs first. Until someone sees that he's hurt too. That's the role of The Last To Part. He's here to make sure that The First will not stay alone in his pain. It's customary to let the wound heal naturally, even if you could just go to any Healer and have it fixed in two minutes. Once it's done we light the wood on fire and send our emotions in the afterlife." explained the young man as he got up and stretched.

"How long 'till we arrrive in Hogsmeade ?" he asked.

"About two hours and a half." replied Neville as he looked at his watch.

"I'm going for a smoke."

"Wait ! What about the song ? What does it means ?" asked Tracey.

"Angels sing when they lose one of them. There was a lot of Singing back then." replied Harry as he closed the door.

The most terrifying things about dreams is that no matter how strong you are when you're awake, you're powerless in your nightmares. Harry did not dream that often, but when he did, it usually wasn't pleasant.

When he came back in the compartment, he decided to take a nap. Unfortunately, his mind had decided that he wasn't worthy of rest.

Memories were mixed with fantasies, recollection of fond times tainted by nameless horrors...

He was thirteen years old again. The same weak and somewhat innocent kid he was back then. His head was still filled with heroic tales. But he knew that his innocence would soon be gone.

He remembered this place. How could he ever forget it ? This vast plain, devoid of anything else but grass and lonely trees. But he was not alone, far from it. All around him, were hundreds of people, in arms. He wasn't even the only kid. Roughly twenty other childrens were here. He should be able to recognise their faces, he knew them, but for the love of God he could not make out any face in the crowd.

The scene changed. He was still in the plain, but now they were lined up facing another army. The battle hadn't started yet, but it would begin soon. He could feel the sweat under his oversized helmet, see the terror in the other kids faces. Even his sword, an Elven weapon that barely weighed anything felt like it was made of the heaviest metal...

The order was given, they charged, steel clashing agaisnt steel, pain, screams, death. In front of him, another faceless soldier suddenly sported a teenager's face. Harry saw the blade of an enemy go trough his chest, an unreadable expression on his face as he fell down.

The young man woke up with a jerk, forehead full of sweat, and a gleam of madness in his eyes. The first thing he saw was Neville with a hand on his shoulder and a worried expression on his face. Just behind him the rest of his friends were looking over him, with the same worry etched upon their face.

"It's fine, mate. You're okay." soothed the shy Gryffindor as he tried to hide his own fear.

"How long was I asleep ?"

"Two hours. You started to stir in your sleep ten minutes ago but then you started to talk and..."

"Like you said, it's fine. We should get ready before the train stop." replied Harry.

Needless to say, no one believed him when he claimed to be fine.

Once they were back to the castle, the students went to attend the feast at their respective tables.

When everyone was sitted, Dumbledore rose from his seat and gathered their attention.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts. I hope you all had a fantastic time, either here with us or with your families. As you must remember, Professor Quirell lost his life in a dramatic incident. Such a tragedy must remind you that even an expert in the Defence Against the Dark Arts can be a victim of this foul magic. In that regard, Professor Quirrel taught us one last valuable lesson. Nevertheless, life must go on and we had to hire a new teacher for the subject. Many of you will recognise this man, for he was famous. For my part, I never knew him personally until the War and now I am honored to count him as a friend and comrade. Please give a round of applause for Professor Gilderoy Lockhart." said the old Headmaster in his usual grandfatherly voice.

The whole student body turned their head toward the doors, expecting a grand entrance from the flamboyant writer. Except he never entered by the front door but used the small staff door.

Those who knew the man and his habit of making an extravagant show out of everything were surprised, but clapped their hands nonetheless.

The newly appointed teacher simply nodded a few times as thanks while he made his way to a chair.

"Now that everything is settled, let's dig in !" ended Albus with a fond smile.

"Can you believe that ! We're going to have Gilderoy Lockhart as a DADA teacher !" exclaimed Hermione with her eyes full of stars.

"Don't be so thrilled. The guy himself admitted that he was a fraud." replied Ron as he filled his plate to the brim with delicious food.

"Key word here being 'was'. Make no mistakes, he used to be a liar and an incompetent, but I have not the shadow of a doubt that he would be able to accomplish anything he wrote in his books, with one hand tied behind his back now." said Harry. "Leave him a chance and you'll see."

"Well if Demonsbane himself vouch for him, who am I to question the words of the mighty commander ?" replied Ron with a smile.

"Bite me, Ronnikins." shot back the young Soldier. "Remember that I spent ten years with your older brothers. I have enough blackmail material to ruin your entire life."

Who knew that a Weasley could become even paler ?

The morning after, the student woke up slowly, except for one madman who kept getting up at six in the morning to train. Around eight thirty, Harry entered the Great Hall to have a meal but spotted someone he wanted to have a chat with. So he made his way to the Hufflepuff table and sat down next Justin Finch-Fletchley.

"Hey Justin !" greeted the green eyed young man.

"What's up Harry ? Had a nice time during the holidays ?"

"It was awesome."

"I bet it was ! Barely three months at Hogwarts and you already spent two weeks at the Ice Queen's house ? You go, man !" replied Justin with a smirk.

"Nothing like that, you moron. Though my question is somewhat related."

"Huh... Sure. Go ahead."

"You know the letter you sent me ? The one after I told you I got a phone for Christmas ? Well, you gave me a list of websites where I could find 'interesting movies in streaming' but all I could find was people having se-" Harry's sentence was cut short by Justin's hand clamping down over his mouth.

"Shut up ! You can't just talk about that here !" said the Hufflepuff as he looked around to see if anyone was listening to their conversation.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though the presence of The-Boy-Who-Lived had attracted every Hufflepuff''s attention.

"Why ? Is it forbidden ?" asked Harry in a hushed voice.

"It's not... I mean not really. You just can't !"

"Ooookaaay... I'll catch you later then. Sorry."

Harry left the Hufflepuff table with a puzzled look on his face and sat down next to his friends in Gryffindor.

"What's wrong ?" asked Neville when he saw him.

"I may have made a faux pas, as you guys say." replied the young man.

"What did you do ?" asked Hermione.

"Well, Justin sent me a list of websites where I could find some interesting movies, but apparently, it's some kind of secret or we're not allowed to discuss it in public."

"Let me see." said Neville.

The prodigy of Herbology grabbed the piece of paper and his eyes went wide when he recognised some of the names.

"So ?" inquired Ron.

"See for yourself."

And lo and behold, Ron's eyes widened too.

"At least the guy got some good taste. I use the same keywords. Especially that one." stated the young red-head.

"Really ? I never would have guessed. I'm more into this and this, but to each their own." replied Neville as his usual shyness seemed to have disappeared.

"What are you talking about ? Let me see !" demanded Hermione.

Neville suddenly realised what he was doing and quickly grabbed his wand.

" **Incendio !** "

The small piece of paper went in flames.

"Oops, my bad."

Later that day, they had their first DADA class with Professor Lockhart. The students were waiting outside of the classroom with anticipation.

The door opened and revealed Lockhart in his usual deep blue robes.

"Come in, take a seat." said the teacher in a friendly tone.

As Harry started to wait in line to enter the classroom, Gilderoy called him.

"Mr. Potter, a word if you please ?"

"Yes, sir ?" said the young man with a small smile. How the tables had turned.

"I wanted to know how you feel about me teaching you. You're our leader and I don't know if I can look at you differently..."

"Treat me like every other student here. I know a lot about fighting monsters from Ulcide or Demons, but I don't know much about the dangers in this world. Your lessons will be very useful." replied the green-eyed Gryffindor with a wink.

"Very well then. Go and take a seat." said Lockhart as he gestured inside the room.

Harry sat down next to Ron and took out his quill and parchment.

"Some of you may know me from my 'work' as a writer. Let me say something before we begin." said Lockhart as he sat on his desk, facing the class.

Next to him was a pile of books. he grabbed the first one and showed it to the class.

" _Break with a Banshee_. Belong in the trash." he threw the book across the room and the book landed in a bin. "Gadding with Ghouls, or as I like to call it now, _How to be eaten alive because you underestimated you enemy_. Belong in the trash." he did the same thing as with the previous book.

Hermione looked deeply hurt to see books be treated that way but kept her mouth shut.

"My point is, don't trust anything I wrote in these books. They are useless if you need to actually defend yourself. In this class, I will teach you how to survive an encounter with dark creatures, defend yourself if you are ever attacked, and the most important lesson, never judge a book by its cover."

At this point of the lesson, the whole class was too focused to even take notes.

"It might come as a shock for you, but I am not very powerful. As far as magical power goes, I am average. Even in this very room, I am not the most powerful here. So how did I managed to survive the War and to win my battles ? This is the first lesson of this course. Don't fight with this." he gestured at his wand." Fight with this." he then pointed at his head.

"You must chose your battles wisely. If you are not 100% confident that you can win a fight, create an opportunity and run. And even if you are 100% sure you can win, never let your guard down. Finally, if you feel the fight is too easy, run even faster. It's probably a trap." lectured the former writer.

"Well what are you waiting for ? Write this down." said the teacher when he saw that almost every student was staring at him with their mouths open.

"And that's the last lesson for today : If the enemy is within range, so are you. For the next lesson I would like you to write an essay on the Tongue-Tying Curse, its origins, how to cast it, and how it can be used in a hostile situation. If you have any question, feel free to come and see me. My door is always open. Just don't come in the middle of the night." said Lockhart as he dismissed them.

"That was the best lesson I ever had !" exclaimed Ron as he packed his stuff. "I'm so glad I was wrong about him."

"Agreed ! I didn't like how he treated his books though..." replied Hermione with a frown on her face.

"Of course that's what would bother you." said Ron with a fond smile. How he loved that woman and her bookishness.

"Go ahead, guys. I'll catch you later." said Harry while he was looking over his shoulder.

Gilderoy was at his desk, sorting different papers and books. When the newly appointed teacher saw who was coming his way, he smiled and put away the parchment he was holding.

"Com-. Harry. How can I help you ?" asked the blond wizard.

"Nothing in particular. Just wanted to tell you that everyone thought you were great. So ? That's what you meant when you said someone offered you a chance to redeem yourself ?"

"Yes. Albus came to see me about a month ago."

"You know none of us Soldiers think you need to redeem yourself anymore ? You earned a title ! 'The Redeemed'. You don't have to put yourself through some sort of crucible."

"I know..." sighed Gilderoy as he sat down on his chair.

"I think I like it. Teaching, I mean. I've only started today but... It feels good. I'm making a difference. We'll have to see but if I'm still doing a good job at the end of the year, I might consider teaching for the rest of my life."

"Wow. Hold on. It's only the first day. Wait until you have to correct hundreds of essays."

They both stayed silent for a moment until Gilderoy pulled a bottle from under his desk.

"Is your day over ?" asked Lockhart as he pulled two glasses from the same drawer.

"Yeah. So tell me, why did you really decided to teach here ?" inquired Harry

The man poured two glasses of whiskey and the two Soldiers cheered. After a first sip, Gilderoy sighed once again and ran a hand through his hair.

"Did you know, my mother died while I was away ?" said the older wizard.

"Shit. I'm sad to hear that." replied the Gryffindor student as he took out his wand and conjured a cigarette.

"Could you give me one too, please ?" asked Gilderoy.

"I thought you stopped ?" replied Harry with an eyebrow raised.

"You stopped for a while too. And we got back to our old idiotic habits for the same reason you and I."

The young man sighed and conjured another one for his 'teacher'.

"Apparently, she couldn't stand the pain of having me away and fighting in the War. She fell sick a few weeks after we left Earth and she left herself die." explained Lockhart.

"Hmm..."

"You know, she was the only one in my family who thought I could become someone better ? She thought I could become someone as great as the hero I portrayed myself to be in these bloody books. She was the one who pushed me to give my best in my studies, the one who convince my father to let me stay home when I could barely find a job after my pathetic OWLS."

Harry stayed silent as the man poured his heart out. He could only be an attentive ear and a supportive shoulder.

"And when I came back... When I came back from this Hell ! After all we've been through, after all I've been through ! When I was finally someone she could be proud to call her son..."

"I'm sure she is proud of you. Where she is now."

"I know ! I know that... But I would have loved to hear her say it. Just one more time." broke down the former writer.

"I know that feeling. Just one more time. I wish I could hear Dawn just one more time..."

They both forgot their cigarettes, as the smoke rose up in swirls in the empty classroom.

A few days passed by, as the students got reacquainted with lessons and homework. So far, Harry hadn't talked about his life since the last time at Greengrass Manor. Daphne was looking forward for their next 'session'. She didn't want to push him though. He would talk about it whenever and wherever it would suit him.

After a long day of classes, the students join the Great Hall to have dinner. As soon as they sat down, Dumbledore got up and gathered everyone's attention.

"Good evening to you all. I hope you had a fantastic day, filled with knowledge and happiness. As you know, our school is divided between four Houses. Each of you formed bonds between your housemates and created friendships that will last forever, or so I hope. Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that some significant rifts were created between some of the Houses. Know that it was never the intention of the Founders to separate students from one another just because they were from different Houses. And so, as an act of reunification, I am proud to annouce the future creation of an Inter-House common room. It will be a place where all of you can socialise, study and relax freely. Please note that any discrimination against a student based sorely on his or her House will be punished accordingly. Thank you for your attention and enjoy your meal."

Excited discussion broke out across the Hall, as the students were processing the informations. It looked like Albus had kept his word. It will be a nice change.

When dinner was over, the students started to get back to their common rooms. As they exited the Great Hall and turned on a corner, someone screamed.

Soon a crowd was formed. No one could clearly see what was happening until those who were in the first row relayed the information.

Mrs Norris was hanging from a torch bracket, a puddle of water beneath her. What really scared the students however, was the message written on the wall, with a blood-red substance.

"THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE."

"God fucking dammit." cursed Harry.

 **AN : What's up guys ! How are you ?**

 **I know this chapter is a bit shorter than usual. So what ?**

 **Thank you SO MUCH for your support, I had a lot of review and PM.**

 **Thanks to keyblademeister88, wolf970, Dragonhitter, Specterchilypepper, nauze18, Hericus C, and Chi Vayne for your reviews !**

 **Thanks to all of you who followed or favourited this story.**

 **And thank you for reading it.**

 **I'll see you next week. Bye !**


	13. Chapter Twelve : Calm Before The Storm

**Hi guys ! I'm so sorry about the delay. Almost three months... I've had a lot of things to take care of IRL, quit college, got a nice full-time job, went to my grandparent's house without my computer or Internet, went on a little road trip... So yeah I've been busy. I promise the next chapter will not be as long to get done. Probably two or three weeks at most.**

 **I've redone this chapter a lot of times because I didn't feel great posting a 'boring' chapter after all this time, but you've got to have down-times if you want to appreciate the intense ones.**

 **Be sure to give me constructive criticism, especially about grammar or syntax. I'm trying to improve slowly but surely.**

 **Anyway, thanks for your support.**

 **Chapter Twelve : Calm before the storm**

The staff had been called for an emergency reunion after the discovery of Mrs. Norris' body. Apparently, the cat was not dead, only petrified. What really bothered Albus and the Professors was the message written on the wall. When Harry showed up for the meeting, some of the teachers (mainly Snape) were disgruntled.

"Headmaster ? I don't doubt Mr. Potter's abilities, but I don't know if his presence is required for this meeting..." snarled the Potions Professor.

"If you want I can get out." replied the young man. He knew Snape disliked him but he did have a point. He was not part of the staff, and this time he was not directly involved in the incident.

"No need, I would have to tell you what happened here afterward. Believe me when I say that his presence in the castle is a boon. If the situation warrants his intervention, we will all be happy to have him." stated the Headmaster.

Shrugging the young man took a seat, next to Gilderoy.

"As you know, someone or something attacked Mr. Filch's cat. At the moment, it is unclear who or what commited this aggression. However, according to the power and knowledge required to petrify undefinitely a target, it is probably not a student. I will have to proceed to a deeper examination but I believe a Mandrake Restorative Draught might do the trick." exposed Dumbledore with his hand folded in front of him.

"Could a Golden Needle work ?" asked Harry.

Albus shook his head.

"We don't know what effect could have an Ulcidian remedy. For all we know it could kill the feline. I don't want to take that risk." replied the Headmaster.

"A Golden Needle ?" asked Madam Pomfrey.

"It's not just a plain golden needle. In my world, there was some monsters that could paralyse or petrify you with a single scratch. A long time ago, an alchimist invented a recipe that turned a golden needle into a magical remedy. It has a lot more components but unfortunately, I don't know them and my stock of the remedy is rather limited." explained Harry.

"For now, I would like you to stay alert and to report any suspicious activity. There is no need to involve the DMLE yet. That is all." dismissed the Headmaster.

Once the teachers had gone back to their quarters, only Albus, Gilderoy and Harry were left in the meeting room.

"First Quirell and now this ? What is wrong with this school ?" asked the green-eyed student.

"I doubt it's the school. The real question for me is 'what is wrong with our world ?'" replied Albus.

"What do you know about this Chamber of Secret ?" asked Gilderoy to the Headmaster.

"Not much, actually. It's an old legend. It is said that Salazar Slytherin built a secret room in this castle. You see, we know very few things about the Founders, but we know that Slytherin had a fallout with the other Founders and the reason of this disagreement was about who should be allowed in the school. Eventually, Salazar left the school and his son took his place as the Leader of House Slytherin. It is said that the Chamber hold a powerful weapon of some sort." explained Albus

"So we have a potential weapon of mass destruction in the school and someone who claim to have access to that weapon ?" summarised Harry with his arms crossed.

"More or less."

"God fucking dammit."

"You do swear a lot."

After the meeting, Harry decided to take a stroll around the castle. The moon was shining brightly upon the Black Lake, and only the sounds of the night could be heard.

Unconsciously, he walked in the Forbidden Forest. When he realised where he was, he snorted. After all this time, he still considered a forest as a safe haven, a place where everything was as it is supposed to be. The wolf hunts the deer, the bird catch the worm. There is no place for man's destructive nature in a forest. You had to leave it behind if you wanted to fit in. Unfortunately, mankind didn't seem to want to fit in.

Suddenly, Harry saw a familiar face coming towards him.

"Hey Klerah. How are you tonight ?" asked the young man. He had such a relaxed and caring expression on his face, as if all tension had left him. Yes, his heart belonged in a place like this one, away from the politics, the plots, the backstabbing. Away from the kind of hurt only mankind could inflict upon each others.

The Thestral seemed to answer with an affectionate nuzzle. The young man embraced Klerah's neck with great care. He scratched the skelettal horse's head gently and let his thoughts roam free.

After a while, the young man sat down under a large tree, reveling in the relaxing atmosphere of Mother Nature's greatest gift to mankind. Herself. Klerah laid down next to him and rested her head his lap.

How he missed the simple days. How he missed the feeling of climbing a tree, only because he felt like it. How he missed the view he had once he was finally at the treetop, the rivers, the silence.

His mind drifted away, carried by fond memories. He remembered the song Ved'hel sung when he was feeling nostalgic. It was a low and sad melody, but it also held a sense of hope, happiness and completion.

He started to hum in his absent-mindedness. Klerah lifted her head and looked at him with her strange eyes. This human was something else. She felt his emotions so strongly, so purely. His mind and body were so scarred, but he still kept going, still tried to fit in with the world instead of trying to mold it to his taste. And if his powerful aura was anything to go by, he could very well do it.

Slowly, his humming changed into words. Elven words. Compelling and fascinating sentences speaking of a home far away. A home long gone now.

Just as slowly, the forest answered his musical call. Tree branches filled up with small creature, natural or magical. Around the tree he was leaning against, more and more animals approached him, giving this strange human a chance despite his kins flaws. Never had the creatures of Earth experienced the true magic of Elves.

War is a blight for everyone. Man, animal, plant, stone... Nothing truly good comes out of it. Sure, you obtain temporary ressources, if you win. Then what ? Once you've used those up, what is next ? Another war ? Fine, then after that ? And once you are the only one left, once you are at the top of the highest mountain, the strongest, what is left ?

No, the true magic of Elves was never War Magic. It was their ability to charm, to be one with the world around them using only their blessed voices. To bring others closer, to build or rebuild.

Harry opened his eyes. There it was. The magic. The predators and the preys, the weak and the strong.

Directly in front of him stood creatures he had only heard about. Unicorns, Hippogriffs, and others he never heard of. For a second, they recoiled when they saw the human open his eyes. Then, seeing he held no hostile intent, they slowly relaxed.

The young man stood still, staring at them with his loving smile reserved to animals.

Surprisingly, the first to come closer was an adult Unicorn. The young man was not aware of their distrustful attitude towards men, so he didn't realise how lucky he was.

The majestic beast was only a few inches away but looked a bit unsure. The former Commander held his hands palm upward, showing he had nothing in it and meant no harm. Then, slowly, agonisingly slowly, he brought them closer to the Unicorn's neck. When he finally touched the legendary creature, he felt its velvet-like horsehair. Rarely had he felt something so soft.

The other creatures saw how this man won the trust of a fully grown Unicorn and decided that they were safe. Those who had things to do left the clearing, but some stayed for curiosity's sake.

That night, Harry fell asleep surrounded by mythical creatures, and slept with a smile on his face for the first time in months.

The next morning, the boy raised by the Last Elf woke up fully rested. How strange that he slept better on a bed of leaves than on a bed made for men. The Unicorn had left late in the night as well as most of the smaller creatures. Only Klerah and a few Hippogriffs were left. Behind the trees, he sensed other creatures. They were curious but wary. He couldn't discern what they were until a few of them came walking towards him. Or rather trotting.

Two Centaurs were looking at him as if he was an enigma, something they couldn't understand. A man who could make their territory his home without disturbing it.

"Who are you ?" asked the closest Centaur. He had blond hair and blue eyes on his human part and a golden coat on his lower half.

"I'm am Harry Potter. Who are you ?" asked back the young man in a low voice as to not wake the beasts that were still sleeping.

"I am Firenze." replied the first Centaur.

"I am Bane." said the second with his eyes narrowed. He had black hair, black eyes and a black body.

"Can I help you and your friends ?"

"What are you ?" asked Bane suspiciously.

"Good question. I am a man, and I am not."

Centaurs and man looked at each others silently for a moment.

"You are different. I saw your arrival in the stars." stated Firenze neutrally.

"We heard you singing. Let me ask you once more. Who are you ?" inquired Bane.

"I am a son of men, raised by a son of Elves. I feel at home in your forest." replied truthfully the young man.

"What is an Elf ?" asked Bane. He seemed genuinely curious.

"Again a good question. I'd say a part of the world."

As if on cue, a soft breeze crossed the clearing. Man and Centaurs stared at each others, judging if the situation needed to take action. One side was protecting their home, the other was trying to convince them that he was not a threat.

"We will keep a eye on you, Son of Elf." concluded Firenze.

"I'm fine with that." replied the young man.

The Hippogriffs had woke up by now. The herd of Centaurs ran off and left the clearing as swiftly as they came.

Unfortunately, Harry had to go back to the castle. With a sigh, the young man got up, said goodbye to the creatures who spent the night with him and walked back to Hogwarts, feeling more relaxed than he ever felt for a long time.

The thing is, you can't just spend a night in the Forbidden Forest by yourself without telling anyone and expect that your absence went unnoticed. When Harry entered the Great Hall to have his breakfast, he was wondering if the others students would notice his dirty clothes. It turned out, his tattered apparels were the least of the castle's concern.

"He's here ! Harry's back !" shouted a boy in Gryffindor.

The teachers turned their heads towards the entrance and Professor McGonagall stood up. She looked absolutely livid.

"Mr. Potter, in my office, right now !" shouted/ordered the matron as she pointed her finger towards the huge doors of the Hall.

Harry winced and adjusted his collar. He was in for an earful.

A couple of minutes later, the young man was sitted in front of a clearly angry McGonagall.

"Tell me where you were last night and why you decided to leave the castle." commanded the old witch.

"I was in the Forest. I needed calm and fresh air." replied the young man simply.

Minerva pinced the bridge of her nose. She was not prepared to face with someone like Harry Potter. Pranksters and troublemakers, she could deal with. But a mentally thirty years old warrior who litterally fought against Hell's army...

"Look, Mr. Potter. I am aware of your particular "conditions". I know that you could potentially wreak havoc in this castle and that we would be virtually unable to stop you. But if you want to keep your status as a student in Hogwarts you will have to accept the rule or you will eventually be expelled." explained the Head of House Gryffindor.

At this moment the door to McGonagall's office opened and Albus walked in.

"Ah, Minerva, Harry. I heard the commotion in the Great Hall from my office ! I am glad to see that young Harry is back, as I told you he would be." said the Headmaster with his grandfatherly smile.

"Albus..." started the witch, not bothering to call him by his title in front of Harry.

"Now we can put this matter behind us and focus on the more important problems." continued Dumbledore.

"ALBUS !" shouted Minerva, surprising the two wizard in the room.

"Yes ?" replied the old man calmly, even though he had admit he was not exactly relaxed. Minerva rarely raised her voice, especially against him.

"You are the Headmaster of this school ! I know you and him are dear friends, but this cannot be allowed to continue. Do you know how many people went to look for him ? Poor Fillius barely slept ! What if he had been attacked or captured ? Do you want more attention brought up on the school now that something petrified a cat and claimed to have opened the Chamber of Secret ?"

Albus sighed heavily and conjured a confortable chair to sit down. A long silence settled in the room.

"Harry ?" called the Headmaster.

The young man raised his head to look at him sheepishly.

"Why did you leave the castle without telling us ? Minerva is right, as strange as it is, you are one of our charges now and you can't do whatever you want." asked Albus.

The raven-haired young man ran a hand through his hair. They grew a lot in these past few month, as did his beard. His black mane now fell on his shoulder and his beard scratched his collarbone if pulled his chin back. He'll have to either cut his hair or wear them in a ponytail... He'd rather be bald.

"You really wanna know why ?"

The Professors nodded.

"Then, it's because I'm scared. There, you're happy now ?" snapped the young man.

"What ? You ? Scared ?" spluttered McGonagall. "You can't be serious ?"

"Why ? Am I not allowed to be afraid ?"

"Of course not ! I am just wondering what could frighten someone such as you." replied McGonagall.

"Is it... Is it what Baal said that scares you ?" asked Dumbeldore hesitantly.

Harry nodded.

"You have to admit that he was right thus far. Ever since I got here, it's been a shitstorm. The Trolls, Professor Quirell, and now this ? My first year is not even finished and everything is going to Hell."

"You can't trust the words of a Demon, Harry ! Especially an Archdemon. He must have said that to disturb you." said Albus as he put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Well, it's working... Just... Just give me my punishment and move on. I will tell you when I go out next time." sighed Harry.

"20 points from Gryffindor and 3 nights of detention with Professor Babbling. She really want to know more about these runic spells of yours." said McGonagall. It really was a light sentence, but it looked like he punished himself hard enough already.

"Ok. See you in class this afternoon, Professor. Have a nice day, Albus." replied the green-eyed Soldier as he closed the door.

"What did this Archdemon Baal said that would scare Demonsbane ?" asked McGonagall to her Headmaster.

"As I said, never trust the words of a Demon. The Angels made sure we learned that. I would have assumed that Harry of all people would remember it. But if you want to know, just before his Avatar died, he went into a mad rant, talking about how much he wanted to curse Harry, but that it would be useless as he already was. He said he would never be at peace and that pain and misery would be his only companions. Again, never trust the words of a Demon." explained the old wizard.

"Perhaps it is more about belief than trust in this instance..."

Albus stood silently, staring at his hand and realised that there was something stuck to his palm.

"What is this ?" asked Minerva as she gestured to the long white hair stuck to the Headmaster's hand.

"I don't know, it probably was on Harry's shoulder and it must have stuck to my palm when I put my hand on it." replied Dumbledore.

The knowledgable wizard observed the item carefully and then, turned to his Deputy Headmistress with his eyebrows raised.

"I believe it's a strand of Unicorn hair..." stated the old man incredulously.

Outside of McGonagall's office, Harry faced his friends who looked torn between relief and anger.

"Harry ! Where were you ? We were terrified. When Ron told me you weren't in your dorm. We looked everywhere but couldn't find you. So we asked-" ranted Hermione until Ron put a hand on her shoulder.

"Babe. Word vomit." Ron said calmly, definitely used to it by now.

"Right... You scared us, you dummy !" finally summarised the bushy haired Gryffindor.

"Sorry guys. It wasn't my intention. I went for a stroll outside, then I met a friend in the Forest. I ended sleeping there Forest with her friends. I met the Centaurs too. Interesting bunch." explained Harry, rubbing his neck with his hand.

Neville and Ron looked at each other when their teenager minds processed the 'sleeping with her friends' part.

"You're impossible, you know that ?" huffed Tracey with her arms crossed.

"So I've been told. I'm gonna go take a shower if you don't mind." replied Harry.

"Wait, we're coming !" interjected Neville and Ron.

The three boys left in direction of the Lions tower, talking in hushered tone.

"I don't know why, but I got a feeling that I wouldn't like to hear their conversation right now." stated Hermione.

The Slytherin girls nodded, their eyes staring holes in the men's back.

"No, you idiots ! Klerah is a Thestral !" shouted Harry in the distance.

"Yep, definitely wouldn't like it." summarised Daphne.

The week went by smoothly. Well as smoothly as a Hogswart week could go. There had been no new attack, but the security measures were now in full effect. Harry had apologised profusely to the Charms Professor for the trouble he had caused. The half goblin was more concerned about his well being than his own sleep and waved him off.

The detentions with Professor Babbling saw the roles of teacher and student reversed as Harry spent several hours going in depth about the magic of Ulcide and Bathsheda Babbling took notes diligently.

 _Earlier this week._

"...And that's why you can't use 'Bah', the rune for Wrath directly next to 'Krah' the rune for Cold. You have to put a buffer rune between the two, otherwise they will just cancel each other. It's finicky." lectured Harry as he pointed at different runes on the board.

"What happen when two Ulcidians runes cancel each others ?" asked Professor Babbling as she tapped her chin with her quill.

"It depends on the spell you're trying to cast. It can range from doing absolutely nothing to blowing up in your face. And you obviously don't want a spell to blow up in your face." replied Harry.

Babbling scribbled some last notes on her parchment then put her quill down. She cast a quick glance towards the clock in her office then sighed.

"Well, it seems like your last detention is over. That's too bad, I still have so many questions..." said the Runes teacher.

"I don't see the problem, you can always ask me later." said Harry as he collected his furnitures.

"I don't want to be a burden. From what I gathered, you're going to be pretty busy with the whole "Chamber of Secrets" stuff. Plus, you're the student and I'm the teacher it should be the other way around !"

"Don't worry about that, I plan to take your class next year as an elective and everything will go back to normal then. Seriously though, feel free to come to me if you have any questions. I'm used to teach Witches and Wizards about Ulcidian magic by now."

"I figured. Did a lot of Soldiers asked you to teach them ?"

"Yeah... We didn't have the time to go into details like now though. It was more of a crash course to give them the basics, just enough to allow them to learn a Domain then they would ask another Ulcidian specialised in their Domain for pointers." explained the young man.

"Do you... Sorry to ask a personal question, but do you know what happened to someone called Charlie Weasley ? He went with the other Soldiers and..."

"Charlie Weasley ? Of course I know him. He's doing fine. Well as fine as possible considering..." replied Harry waving a hand in a circular motion. "Last time I saw him he was with his family."

"Oh ! That's great. I'm glad he's okay." breathed Bathsheda Babbling.

The next week, a piece of parchment in the common rooms of all the houses stirred a great surge of excitation through the entire castle.

"A Duelling club ? That's brilliant ! Mum would never let me learn it at home." said Ron excitedly as the group of Gryffindor walked downstairs to grab breakfast.

"You're right, it's a great opportunity to learn something new ! I'm glad you're interested in taking an extracurricular activity apart from Quidditch, Ron. I hope I know enough spells to be adequate..." agreed Hermione.

Harry stayed silent only nodding here and there, while Neville and Ron were busy talking about Dueling.

The students didn't know how important self defence would be in the upcoming years. Voldemort was coming back, and with him his Death Eaters. Probably stronger than ever with Lucifer's teachings.

They would need every advantages they could get to deal with Voldemort's forces. Of course, he was already familiar with a wand user's fighting style, but until now he rarely had to fight against one as they usually were on his side.

"Are you going to come Harry ?" asked Neville.

"As a matter of fact, I am." replied the young warrior.

"Why ? You're the freaking Demonsbane ! You don't need Dueling classes." whispered Ron, not sure if someone was listening.

"I want to learn how to fight with and against wand magic. You never know when it could get in handy." explained the former Soldier.

"Damn it, here I thought I could get a chance to show off in front of the ladies but you had to come and steal the show, did you ?" joked Ron which earned him a slap on the shoulder from his girlfriend.

The light-hearted joke draw a smile on Harry's face despite his grave thoughts.

"I'll try my best but I can't promise I won't be drowning in an ocean of wet panties..." answered Harry just as jokingly.

"As if." snorted the familiar voice of Daphne behind them.

"Good morning !" greeted Hermione.

"What's up guys ! Did you see the ad ? There's going to be a Dueling club." said Tracey, leaning on her blond friend's shoulder.

"That's what we were talking about." replied Neville.

"How the hell did you went from talking to a Dueling class to drowning in wet panties then ?"

"That's called talking, Daphne. It tends to happen." said Harry with a yawn. "Come on guys, I need some coffee."

He walked in the Great Hall scratching his recently shaved cheek.

"That's weird. Harry is usually perkier in the morning." stated Daphne.

"Well... He's been having these nightmares lately. He said it was just bad dreams but he barely gets any sleep. Plus, you know how he is..." explained Ron.

"We told him to go see Madam Pomfrey but..." added Neville.

"You didn't tell us that ! Why would you keep it from us ?" asked Hermione.

" 'Cause it's not our bloody business. He's been saying some real intimate stuff during his sleep."

"Why talk about it now then ?" asked Tracey.

"Because he needs help." replied Neville.

"What can we do ? We can't just jump him and drag him in the Infirmary ward." said Hermione.

"Moral dilemma apart, he'd kick our asses. So that's not an option." replied Daphne.

"Come on, let's think about this later. It's breakfast o'clock." said Ron.

The first session of the Dueling Club was enlightening for most students. Flitwick, Lockhart and Snape were supervising the whole meeting, correcting people's stances, providing advices on how to react in front of specific situations, etc... Except for Snape who spent the entire session with his Slytherins

All in all, it was great. A bit slow for Harry's opinion but he couldn't realistically expect the others to have the same level as hardened warriors. Most of his duel lasted barely more than three seconds. His reflexes and instincts were unmatched. What he was truly looking for was to fight against proficient wand- users. In hindsight, maybe he shouldn't have attended. Perhaps he could ask Professor Flitwick to give him advanced lessons or at least tips...

"Potter !" called a young man's voice from behind him.

Harry turned around to see one Draco Malfoy, walking towards him.

"Yes ? Can I help you ?" asked Harry warily.

Malfoy sighed heavily, looked around to check if they were alone then turned to Harry.

"As much as it pains me to say, yes you can help me."

"And what would you need ?"

"I need you to teach me how to fight." grumbled Malfoy.

"Sorry, I couldn't quite hear that." replied Harry

"I need you to teach me how to fight !" repeated Malfoy heatedly.

The young warrior raised an eyebrow. He never interacted with Malfoy, and the Slytherin would always look at him with barely disguised irritation. And now he asked to be teached ?

"And why would I want to do that ? Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely refusing the idea, it's just that you've been glaring at me since I've entered the school."

"Because..." breathed Malfoy. Once again, checking his surroundings, Malfoy leaned closer. "Because if you don't, I'll have to become another cannon fodder for the Dark Lord."

 **Here you go, the first chapter in three months. How did you find it ?**

 **Be sure to review, it's always the best part to have your feedback.**

 **See you soon !**


	14. Chapter Thirteen : Calm Before The Storm

**Hi everyone ! How are you doing today ?**

 **Before we begin I have two things I want to talk about.**

 **First, a huge thanks to the persons who PMed me to tell me they were glad to see me back. It warmed my heart, for real. Also thank you for the reviews. I heard your concerns about my writing and I am working on it. I will eventually edit the first chapters to include the various helpful tips you guys gave me about writing a dialogue for example.**

 **And secondly, you will find another AN at the end of this chapter. If you would be so kind to check it out.**

 **Without further ado, let's get right into the chapter.**

 **DISCLAIMER : I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY REFERENCED WORK.**

 **CHAPTER THIRTEEN : THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM (PART TWO)**

* * *

Sitting in an abandoned classroom, two young men were locked in a staring contest.

Harry and Draco were sitting face to face, trying to understand what the other was thinking.

"So, let me get this straight. Your father was more or less forced to join the Death Eater." began the green eyed Gryffindor.

The young Malfoy nodded.

"He's always been a pureblood supremacist but not to the extent Voldemort is."

Draco flinched at the mention of the name of the Dark Lord, then nodded.

"Now that the Death Eaters know for a fact that he will be back, they are starting to gather again."

Nod.

"And you don't want to join their ranks because, and I quote, you 'don't want to grovel at anyone's feet for the rest of your life.'."

Nod.

"But as soon as you refuse to join they will try to kill you, your mother and your father."

Nod.

"You know that it's hard to believe ? And that's coming from a guy who got his ass handed to him as a kid by an Angel 'cause he stole her chocolate cake..."

"What do you want me to say, Potter ? If you don't want to, just say so and don't waste my time !" growled the pale boy.

"What I want to know, Malfoy, is why you think I would believe you. I don't want to sound like a dick, but I'm a busy man, and my time is precious."

"Because I have no other choices ! I can't go to my father because he's already neck-deep in shit, my godfather's a Death Eater as well, my mother is a brilliant witch but can't fight, and I can't just go to any Professor and ask them to teach me how to fight without telling them why. So if you have any other options, I'm all ears, Demonsbane !" Draco spat the last word as if it was a curse. He soon came to regret that as an ominous feeling oozed out of the previously calm and composed man in front of him.

"You watch your tongue, boy. If you know this name, you should also know why it was given to me. Sit back." ordered Harry, his vividly green eyes lighting with power.

Unconsciously, Draco swallowed a lump in his throat and sat back with as much dignity he could muster.

"Let's say I accept. What makes you think it would change anything. You refuse to join, they still try to kill you and your family, and you either run away or you get captured or worse. Granted if I train you, you would have a lot more chances to stay alive, if what I saw during the Dueling Class was any indication. But why not just attend these classes like everyone else ? It would be a perfect cover. No one would find it suspicious and you would still improve yourself." explained calmly the Soldier.

"Mph. You know as much as I do that the Dark Lord and his minions don't abide by the rules. Dueling class wouldn't hurt, but I need to know how to fight knowing my life is on the line, not to learn how to fight knowing my opponent will only use non-lethal spells. I could make it worth your while. Our family have a lot of money as you already know, and the ear of the Minister. It could be profitable for you."

Harry leaned forward and folded his hands, deep in thoughts.

"How long do you think you have until you are 'asked' to join the Death Eaters ?"

"A few years at best. By the time I leave the school, I will bear the Dark Mark."

"I will think about it. For both of our sake, this conversation never happened. I'll contact you when I have made my decision." said Harry as he got up. "Good night."

And just like that the Gryffindor was gone, leaving a worried Draco Malfoy behind.

* * *

"There you are !" exclaimed Hermione as Harry entered the unused classroom they now used as a place to hang out.

"You just vanished after the Dueling Class. We almost went to McGonagall again." added Neville.

"I went for a stroll and one thing let to another... Anyway, what's up ? Why are you all so serious ?"

"We...We wanted to talk to you. You don't look fine." said Tracey.

"What do you mean 'I don't look fine.'. I'm feeling great. Totally fine. Nothing..." he yawned mid-sentence. "Nothing to worry about."

"Very convincing. I almost bought it." deadpanned Daphne, seated elegantly on an armchair.

"You're running yourself ragged mate. When is the last time you slept after nine in the morning ?" asked Ron with worry.

"Never. Except when I've been unconscious but it doesn't count. I'm telling you, it's alright. We just need to put this whole business about the Chamber of Secrets behind us and everything will go back to normal." replied Harry. He was getting slowly but surely more irritated by this impromptu interrogation.

"You keep getting nightmares ! It can't be good for your health ! Maybe if you went to that Mind Healer my mother reco-" Daphne was cut in the middle of her sentence by a sudden outburst from the Commander.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT ! MY PROBLEMS ARE MINE TO DEAL WITH !" roared Harry with ragged breath and a manic glint in his eyes. In the middle of his shout, he stood up from his seat and his magic flared briefly before he got it under control.

His friends flinched and retreated in their seats when his powerful aura washed over them, like a tidal wave.

Only Harry's heavy breathing could be heard in the room for a moment. The frenzied look in his eyes faded away as he reigned his emotions. His shoulder sagged and he sat back in armchair.

Rubbing his face in embarrassment, he kept his eyes on the floor.

"I see your point. I will take it in consideration. However, and I think I mentioned it before, but a Mind Healer would be useless in my case." said Harry, visibly embarrassed but still trying to sound dignified.

"A-A lot of patients says that. They don't think they need someone to tell them something is wrong with them. But to admit that you need help is the first step to recovery." stuttered Daphne.

"It's not what I meant. If what I've been told is true, then a Mind Healer will enter you mind to see first-hand the traumatic event, right ? Then, with specific spells, they will slowly mend the effect of the traumas you endured. Well, for that you need to bring down you mental problem here is that I can't do that. My mind is protected by an Heavenly ward. I have no control over it, it is always up..."

All of his friends nodded in understanding.

"Look, I'm sorry for yelling at you. I shouldn't have and I apologise. You were only looking out for me." apologised the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Don't worry, it happens to the best of us. But... Can't you do anything at all ? Maybe you could go to a muggle Mind Healer ?" asked Neville.

"Oh Neville...Do you remember how hard it was for us magicals to accept the fact that Angels and Demons were real ? Imagine how muggles would react... They would send him to an asylum and that's not even considering the breach of the Status of Secrecy..." replied Tracey.

"There's this old saying in my world. I don't know if you have something equivalent here but it roughly translate to 'Time will heal everything eventually.'."

* * *

Unfortunately, another attack occurred barely one week later. And the whole castle could feel the magical power of a very angry Harry Potter.

"Tell me he's going to be OK. Are you one hundred percent sure that Justin will be fine ?" said Harry in the staff room.

Excepted from Albus and Gilderoy, all the teachers in the room were pale and visibly frightened by the amount of power the young man pacing in front of them was radiating. The air was distorted around him, the temperature oscillated from burning hot to freezing cold, and the windows seemed to be about to break.

"I assure you as soon as the Mandrake are ready, Severus will start brewing the potion to cure Mr. Finch-Fletchley's condition." explained Dumbledore calmly.

"Can't we just order some ? It would be faster !" replied Harry, as his anger was starting to dissipate.

"Unfortunately we can't." said Severus with resolve. He would have thrown in a jab at Potter's lack of talent in Potions but in the current state the war-hero was in, the potions master feared he would rip him to shreds in an heartbeat. "Mandrakes need to be fresh in order to be used in this potion and the cure itself react badly to stasis charms so you have to use them shortly after they were brewed."

"For the moment, let's go over what happened tonight for those who still don't know. Shortly after dinner, Mr. Potter walked towards the courtroom to indulge in his unhealthy habit of smoking. However, in the middle of the way, he stumbled upon the petrified body of Mr. Finch-Fletchley who apparently shares his taste for health hazards and Nearly Headless Nick. At the same moment, Peeves, the Poltergeist, saw the scene in front of him. Harry then ordered the ghost to warn the closest teacher, which happened to be Filius. After that, Mr. Finch-Fletchley and our resident ghost were carried to the Infirmary and I called for this staff meeting."

"What should we do ? The situation is dire, Albus ! If we don't put an end to this, they are going to close the school." said McGonagall.

"I know. This is why I intend to alert the DMLE and we shall prepare counter-measure in case of another attack. We will reinforce patrols and as soon as we can we will eliminate this threat." replied the old Headmaster.

Albus summoned a piece of parchment and a quill then looked at everyone in the room.

"Any volunteers for the first patrol tonight ?"

At the end of the meeting, Harry went to smoke as he intended to do before he found Justin.

After a few moments he heard footsteps and turned to see Daphne walking towards him, her arms crossed across her chest to protect herself from the cold.

"How are you fine in this cold ?" she said while she shivered slightly.

"I believe you already asked me this question multiple times. The answer is still the same." replied Harry in a neutral tone.

"Are you... Are you okay ?"

"I have to. Justin's gonna be fine. We just have to wait for the Mandrakes to mature and he'll be up and running."

"You don't have to lie to me, you know ? The others are worried too."

"I'm fine. I'm used to it. At least this time, the loss is not permanent."

Daphne took out her wand and cast a Warming Charm on them.

"Way better." she said with a sigh of relief.

"Thanks."

Heavy silence fell upon them like a blanket of snow. The 'Ice Queen of Slytherin' looked around and took out her wand again.

Harry raised an eyebrow when she saw her conjure a smoke for herself.

"Don't tell anyone." she said in a threatening tone.

"Since when do you smoke ?"

"Since the Trolls incident. I stole one from Justin's pack to try it... It calms me." she replied.

"Do you want to go somewhere else ? We're not exactly hidden here."

"You know a place ?" she asked with interest.

"Follow me." Harry said.

He lead her to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and sat on a large rock hidden behind a particularly big tree.

"It's nice here. But aren't we going to be in trouble ? We're technically in the Forest." she said as she sat beside him.

Their legs were touching because of the lack of space and she could feel his warmth even with the Warming Charm in effect.

"Not if you're with me. As long as we don't spend the night here." replied Harry with a small smile.

"Is this an invitation ? At least take me to dinner first." she huffed teasingly.

"You know that it doesn't really help you ? You just created another need to fulfill and that's it." patronised Harry as he pointed to her still unlit cigarette. He didn't even acknowledge her previous sentence.

"You of all people don't have the right to give me lessons about that." she replied. "Do you have a lighter ?"

"Are you a witch or not ?" he teased back with a smirk.

"My Fire Charms needs... A little bit of work... I almost singed my eyebrows last time..." she said with a blush.

The young warrior tried to stiffen a laugh but to no avail.

"Yeah, laugh all you want, but at least I can brew my potions." she scoffed.

"Yeah, . Here." he replied as he put his hand in front of her face.

She put her smoke on her lips and Harry leaned forward a bit.

Then, he spread his index and middle finger, forming a V, and a single rune appeared between his fingers. The air between his fingers was wavering with heat and the cigarette in her mouth was lit.

"Thank, that's a neat trick." she said after a puff of smoke.

"It has proven itself a few times, yes." he replied smugly.

"Wait a minute, this is not very destructive. I thought you were only able to use War Magic ?" asked the young woman.

"It's because it's not a spell. It's the first rune of an entire array. And it just happen to produce some heat when this specific spell fails." he explained.

"Do you come here a lot ?" asked Daphne as she gazed at the peaceful area surrounding them.

"I usually come here to rest after my training in the Forest. You know, take a few minute to breath before I go take a shower."

"Sounds nice. But you know there is a lot of dangerous creatures in here ?"

"I got my ways... Here, wanna see something really cool ?" he asked with a bright smile.

"Sure, go ahead."

Harry stood up, turned towards the center of the Forbidden Forest and cleared his throat.

He began to hum the same song he sang when he slept in the Forest the last time.

Goosebumps crept on Daphne's skin as she listened to the man in front of her. How he managed to produce such sounds using only his vocal chords was beyond here. It really was out of this world.

She never got the time to reflect on the song Harry was singing, as numerous creatures seemed to appear like ghosts behind the trees.

In front of her was gathered a large crowd of animals, both from the mundane and magical world.

Squirrels, deers, hippogriffs, boars, wolves, even a unicorn came as soon as he called.

She saw him turn to face her. For a second she thought it was an Angel. His entire body seemed to be freed from any and all burden he carried. His face so happy and caring. His smile shone brighter than a thousand suns, and his eyes were visibly shining with bliss. The sun's rays managed to pierce the heavy foliage to caress his figure.

Her heart skipped a beat and a warmth she never felt before coursed through her entire being. She couldn't think of anything else but to enjoy the magnificent scene in front of her.

"Come closer. Let me introduce you to my friend. She's right here." he said gently.

Daphne barely realised she had walked closer to him. In fact she never would have if he hadn't grabbed her hand in his own. They were calloused, as expected from someone who used to wield a weapon every day of his life, but his grip was gentle and warm. He guided her hand to an empty space next to him and suddenly she felt something rough and lukewarm.

"This my friend Klerah. She's a Thestral." he said softly as he scratched the spot where the creature's head would be if she was able to see it.

"Why is she invisible ?" asked Daphne intrigued.

"Hagrid told me that someone can only see Thestral if they saw someone died. It's a real shame. I wish more people could see them. I don't mean I wish more people could see others die but...They're really kind."

"Oh..." replied Daphne. Of course he would be able to see them then.

A couple of minutes went by as he introduced her to various animals. She was deeply impressed when the Unicorn let Harry pet her.

Unfortunately, the magical moment was interrupted by his phone ringing in his pocket. The creatures were startled and fled in the Forest.

Harry sighed and took out his phone.

"Why do you have an alarm set up for now ?" asked the Slytherin.

"I'm part of the patrols during the night until we end the attacks for good. And it's almost curfew so you should head to your common room." he answered as he stopped the loud alarm.

"What ? But you're not even a Prefect ! It's not fair."

"I volunteered. And I doubt the Prefects would be able to stop whatever it is that's attacking the students." he said. Suddenly, his previously carefree and happy attitude vanished to be replaced by a colder and determined demeanor.

As they walked back to the castle, Daphne wished Harry could be as happy as he was back in the Forest more often. But it seemed as though Fate had different plans for her friend.

* * *

Two weeks had passed after Justin got petrified. Every day, Harry would visit him and the other students. The patrols were uneventful, but tiring nonetheless. The castle had a beautiful but eerie feel at night, and every shadow could hide an enemy. No one was more invested in the searches as Harry. He spent most of his nights paroling the castle with the other member of the staff. One night , he and Snape were forced to group together, which led to a very awkward situation. They really tried to make casual conversation, but neither were good at this particular subject.

Which leads us to this morning, where Harry could be seen sleeping on the bench of the Gryffindor table like a hobo. His head was tilted to the side, his mouth agape, and his left arm was hanging out of the bench.

Gilderoy walked in through the staff entrance and decided to wake him up before the students could enter the Great Hall. It took the combined effort of half the staff of the castle to convince Harry to take a nap. The poor man had barely slept in two weeks and it was a miracle that he was still able to walk.

The Professors told him that they would wake him later during the night, but no one actually did.

"Harry. Harry !" said Lockhart as he shook Harry's shoulder.

"Huh ? Wh-Whaat's-goin'... Huh ?" replied the Boy-Who-Lived as he stood up from his bench.

"The students are going to come in to get breakfast."

"What time is it ?"

"Almost seven in the morning."

"You lied to me ! You guys said you were going to wake me up !"

"Well, you lied to everyone too, when you kept saying that you weren't tired."

"Fair enough..." sighed the young man.

"Can I give you a piece of advice ?" asked Gilderoy, sitting down next to his former commander.

"You're the teacher. You don't have to ask my permission."

"Not as a teacher. As a friend, a brother."

"Even less reasons to ask then."

"Stop it. Whatever you're doing to yourself. You may be an extraordinary man, but you're still just a man. You remember how I was when I admitted that almost none of my stories were real ?" said the DADA teacher seriously.

"You bet. You wouldn't look at us in the eyes and you threw yourself in your recon job. You had to nearly die in order to get your shit together."

"You're doing the same thing. We live in a different world, in a different time. We're not alone anymore. We can share our burdens. You helped me carry mine so let us carry yours. You don't have anything to prove. Do your best, but don't put yourself and your happiness at risk."

"It's not that easy..."

"Is it ever ?"

They sat here, in the empty Great Hall in silent contempt for a minute.

"Do you miss her ?" asked Harry mysteriously.

"Every day and every night. Teaching helps though. I can see why she was happy in Beauxbaton. But there is this...void."

"Hm. Like a cold hand that grips your heart every time... Are her parents doing okay ?"

"Not really. Her mom got sick. I think it's more in her head though. Can't help much about that. Every time she look at me I think she get worse..."

At one point, the doors of the Hall opened themselves, signifying that the first people would be coming down to have their breakfast soon.

"Remember that my door is always open for you." said Lockhart as he stood up.

"I will, Gil'. I'm going to take a shower."

"I didn't want to tell you, but now that you mention it, you reek like hell."

"Yeah, you would know, too !" replied Harry jokingly as he walked toward the doors.

Just before he crossed the threshold,Harry heard Lockhart call him one last time.

"Take care of yourself, Harry. Dawn wouldn't want to see you wither away."

"I know... I know..." he whispered to himself, but his voice managed to reach Gilderoy across the empty Hall.

* * *

 **Hey guys ! Did you enjoy this chapter ? I'm sorry it's shorter than usual, but this part is important. Later in this story, our protagonists will never catch a break and these somewhat peaceful moments are critical to set up the rest.**

 **Also there is something that has been bothering me for a while now. I had the idea for this story from a dream I had a while ago, and I immediately started to write some key elements if I ever wanted to write it. And last week, I had a bit of free time and I started daydreaming (as usual). However, this daydream session gave me an idea for another fanfiction, and it won't leave me alone.**

 **This fanfic' would be about Monster Hunter ! I know, nothing in common with Harry Potter. If you don't know, Monster Hunter is a series of game, in which you play as a... Monster Hunter. You accept a contract, hunt the huge beast, then you get money and materials from the said monster, which allows you to craft better weapons, armors, and all kind of crazy stuff. If you are interested, here's a few things about my idea:**

 **-It would be in a Modern AU. Mankind developed their techs around monster parts and the various ressources you came across during the games.**

 **-Hunters are rare and melee Hunters even more. It's a modern AU so most Hunters use ranged weapons, but they still need at least one person to distract the target.**

 **-People don't become Hunters just like that. You have to be compatible with at least one type of weapon, which allow you to stand a chance against the monsters, by being faster, stronger and more resilient. If you ever played Monster Hunter, you know how destructive some attacks can be and I don't think a normal person can withstand a fireball from a Rathalos and live to tell the tale. So Hunters are regarded with respect, as they are the pillar of this society.**

 **-Our protagonist would not start as a Hunter. In fact, he's a college student in Monstrology. Of course, something would come and disturb his 'peaceful' life, 'cause that's how it works.**

 **Let me reassure you, if I ever started writing this new fan fiction, I won't forget about this one. I really like writing it, and I can't wait for the 'real' story to begin.**

 **Let me know what you think, both about this chapter and my other possible project. Please leave a review and thank you for your support.**


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